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aass_ElMr- 



Book-JM:^^^^^ 



Colonial History 



OF THE 



Parish of Mount Carmel 



As Read in its Geologic Formations, Records 
AND Traditions 



By JOHN H. DICKERMAN 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



new haven, conn.: 

Press of Ryder's Printing House 

1904 



TO 

MY DAUGHTKK CaROLVN, 

WHO HAS AIDED MK IN PRESERVATION 

OF THESE HISTORICAL NOTES 

AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 



/ 

n 



c c c 



Introductory. 

THOSE who live after us may want to know something about the first set- 
tlers of Mount Carmel. Although at the present time less than a century 
and a half has elapsed since a Colonial charter was granted to form the 
Ecclesiastical Society of the parish of Mount Carmel. the first settlement dating 
not more than thirty years earlier, there is now great difficulty in getting authentic 
records of those who lived here in Colonial days. 

The aim of the writer has been to place before the reader, incidents in the 
lives of men and families, with biographical sketches of character, and, so far as 
possible, illustrated by photographs of houses still preserved that date back to 
the first century of settlement. Few individuals now live who can contribute 
from memory or tradition, events ])rior to 1800. At tiiat date, seventy years had 
passed, during which time the conception and carrying out the greater ])art of 
the structure which now completes the map of Mount Carmel. hatl been completed. 
The question is often asked, "Who was the person that gave the name to the 
parish?" So far as can be ascertained, satisfactory- replies will be given, with, 
perhaps, some of doubtful issue, leaving a field for future historians to explore. 

Aid in the work has been sought and responded to by members of the Mount 

Carmel Book Club, and to all those credit is duly made and the thanks of the 

writer extended for their courtesv. t tt t-v 

John H. Dickerman. 



Contents. 



GeoN'eral Conditions, 

Geologic Formations. 

Reminiscences of the Indians 

The Steps, 

Relation to North Haven, 

Church Notes. 

Colonial Family Records: 

Bradley Family, 

Chatterton Family, 

Peck Family, 

Miller Family, 

Ives Family, 

Bassett Family, 

MUNSON AND KiMP.ERLY, 

TuTTLE Family, 
ToDD Family, 

DiCKERMAX r\\MILY, 

The Flora, 

Jairus Dickerman, 

Charles Brockett, 

The Hezeklmi Brockett Oak 

Doc, Lane Court, 

Cemetery Eimtaphs, 

Land Records. 

Blue Hill Record Book, 

Weather Record, 



PAGE 

9 

i8 

22 

25 

33 

2,7 

44 
46 
48 
50 

51 
52 
5^' 

65 
69 

7^ 

82 

90 
92 

94 
100 

102 

103 

107 



Genekal Conditions. 

r^ r? OUNT Carmcl Parish was all included in the original New Haven Col- 
f\ /I o\\\\ the nortiiern boundary being- then the same as at the present time. 
^^ <-^ extending from the Ouinnipiac River at a point near the first dam on 
the river at the location of the Ouinnipiac mills, extending west in nearly a 
straight line to Amity, now Bethany ; the line thence extending south on or near 
the top of the mountain to the point of intersection with the southern boundary 
of Shepard's Brook, thence following an easterly course to the junction with 
Mill River. Thence the line continued in a north and east direction, following 
the river to a point then known as the James Ives Farm. There the boundary 
line left the river and followed the southern boundary of said farm, running in 
an easterly direction to a four-rod highway ; thence the line continued north on 
the highwav to the farm of Ithamar Todd. There the line left the highway and 
continued through Tthamar Todd's farm to the foot of the Blue Hills. From 
there it continued in an easterly course, following the highway to the point of 
intersection on the Ouinnipiac River at or near the location of the dam. 

Such was outlined as the boundary of the Parish of Mount Carmel. and this 
outline is still employed in the official business of the town of Hamden in allotting 
official work, designated as the Mount Carmel Society. 

The southern portion of the town of Hamden is known officially as the East 
Plains Society, which, united with the Parish of Mount Carmel in 1786, formed 
the town of Hamden. 

Mount Carmel of to-day, with five miles of electric road in Whitney Avenue, 
the macadam pavement, the named streets branching from Whitney Avenue, the 
the steam road with its convenient depots for passengers and freight, the numerous 
stores and elegant homes, abodes of refinement and wealth, that have been accumu- 
lated by development of natural resources here found, present so great a change 
from the native forest which covered the whole area less than two hundred years 
ago, as to cause the time to seem short in which such change has developed. 
The members of the Book Club now meet monthly in their parlors adorned with 
taste and art from the whole world — contrast it with the first log cabin, built 
with the axe of the pioneer who blazed his path hither from the settlement of New 
Haven, which then had struggled for an existence during its first hundred 
years. In those days mutual helpfulness was a trait of character found in every 
family — such as always exists more strongly among those people striving to 
promote a worthy cause ; so long as an unsubdued wilderness covered the earth 



10 Colonial Hlstokv 

and the sustenance of families depended on cultivation of the soil, sturdy muscular 
development was the energy by which bread was furnished their homes. 
(The following poem was read at a re-union of the Todd family.) 

In age we linger over youthful scenes 

And all the radiance of their lives outlined; 
V\^hat passed, as all must pass, through sordid things. 

Is all forgot, and loveliness entwined. 

We see a wreath where once there was a gnarl; 

We hear a wlnisper as an ar.gel sings — 
To them it may ha\"e been a scroll 

Of terror, fastened to the cross it clmgs. 

Their lives were at the dawn — ours full day; 

Their hopes were onward, (.)f the future dreaming; 
Their work is done — oijrs seems like play 

Compared with marvels of their past revealing. 

Yet. who are we who fill this link unbroken? 

And who will come to make-the chain unending? 
Can we a stroke of destiny .ir token 

Leave after us that will not mar the mending? 

They wrought and built, art by their labor fashioned; 

Time was too short while day illumed the sky; 
The moonbeams often fell athwart impassioned 

Alan who wielded thus tiie ax, the hoe, the scythe. 

For them a battle every day was raging; 

Strength was the meed by whicli their goal was won; 
Their crown was uijt an emblem, fleeting, fading. 

But of a substance done. 

]\lark, jMinder, where a marble shaft uprising. 

Displays the names of those we here commend; 
We feel they live, and in the future dawning 

We meet again. — a meeting witliout end. 

There was nmch more than poetic fiction relating to work by moonlight with 
the ax or the cradle in securing the harvest. Those who still remember fireside 
tales of sixty years ago, listenetl to recounting of feats of their sires quite as 
remarkable, and j^erformed with a worthier jnirpose, than the skilled athletes in 
their brutal contests on tlie ball fields. In the earlier days no call to stop work 
was heeded but the dinner horn. Up witli the sun and work until dark, was the 
custom, and after that do the chores b\- the light from the tallow candle shining 
through jmnctured tin lanterns. "The plowman homeward plods his weary way" 



The Parish of Mount Car m el. 



II 




Pliolographcd l^y It. B. Welch. 



THE SLEEPING GIANT. 



was truth exemplified in many a household before the riding or sulky plow turned 
a furrow. 

It was a day when the Lord reigned solitary in families. The meeting house, 
many miles from the home of a remote settler, might be visited but a few times 
a year. Yet there grew, in many a home circle, devout hearts that trusted in 
God. The fear of the Lord was in the land. There is a tradition of Josiah Todd 
awaking one morning to find the ground about his house filled with wild turkeys. 
The ready gim was brought at once, ready for use, when the solemn thought 
occurred that it was the Sabbath day. With reluctance — w'e imagine — the gun 
was put in rest, tliinking a temptation from the Devil to him had entered the wild 
turkeys to thus expose themselves within grasp on the one holy day of the week. 
We know the house of this Josiah Todd was far from others, that the echo 
from his gun would have awakened no disturbing thoughts among his neighbors, 
that no law forbade him to su])ph- his board with choice fowl, but the voice of 
conscience stirred him to keep one day holy unto the Lord. Of such character 
were made the men of our forefathers. When they listened to a sermon, they 
thought of it, and if the tenets taught did not agree with their version of the 
Bible, a new sect would soon arise, meetings would be held in private houses, 
where the people exhorted as thev were led by the spirit. Such sturdy indepen- 
dence in thought may not have strengthened organized associations, but it filled a 



12 Colonial History 

people with bold and fearless thought ; it inspired original expression in prose 
and verse, as appears in a Re very in the VAuc Hills. 

What do the trees say, tuned by the wind? 

First into ecstac}' deeply they bend; 

Softlj' and slow the murmurs descend 

Till, hushed into silence, no leaf is astir: 

The carol of linnet, or pheasant's shrill whirr — 

Naught else — shows that life is breathing the air. 

The coney is sleeping, the fox in his lair. 

The dim, fleecy clouds approach us above; 

Suspended are we o'er the plain where w'e rove. 

VVe sweep the full rirbit by magical wand; 

It seems as if Heaven had sought us, and found 

That our trust and our confidence stood us in need. 

Has raised us high up o\gy ocean and mead. 

We drink the rich draught which so seldnm befalls 

To mortals who only in parlors and halls 

See the kingdoms of earth spread their banners afar, 

Or witness on plains the carnage of war. 

Our victory here is one of good-will. 

We listen again to the murmurs that thrill 

All our fancies with longing, then silenth' sleep; 

The cadence is softened and hushed as the deep. 

In a nnunitain our Saviour with angels conversed; 

In a mountain God gave His commandments to earth; 

In the mountains our refuge has ever been laid; 

Lot fled to the mountain for safety- and aid. 

The trees on the mountain liave whispered to me 

When the wind stirred their leaves, just as mortals should be 

When approached by a friend, feel the wave that inclines 

The heart-beat to unison, meeting the mind 

So gently and still, we feel the repose 

Of confidence, trustin.g to Hea\en our foes. 

Spiritual life of a ijeople, wlien the expression is recorded, appears among 
the earliest, showing the strength of character : thus the charter appears as the 
Ecclesiastical Society of the Parish of Mount Carmel granted in 1757. North 
Haven had a society with an ordained minister in 1718, supported, no doubt, in 
part, by families who later left that parish to join the Mount Carmel Society. 
The fertile valley of the Quinnipiac River early drew farmers to take up land. 
Mention is made of settlers there in iC^i, and that in 1670 a good number of 
families had made their homes in the Quinnipiac Valley. 

Mount Carmel had other preponderating influence than agriculture. The 
towering hills, always in view when the first settlers sailed up the harbor, must 
have been a source of wonder, curiosity, and a certain amount of superstition 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 13 

which long- haunted the gloomy forest of the Bkie Hills. Reaching across the 
valley, on the west bordered by Mill River, an excellent mill site had been cut in 
the trap rock by the flow of a once mighty river, continued through the untold 
ages of the past. Late geological teachings include this valley to the north as 
once the bed of the Farmington and the Quinnipiac Rivers ; a mighty torrent 
indeed, must have rushed through the narrow gorge at the western foot of Mount 
Carmel, spreading far and wide and below the dike of trap rock. 

Depressions, washouts, gravel beds and a general rough and tumble makeup 
of the valley lands are explained by the knowledge that a mighty river Farmington 
and Quinnipiac united with ]\lill River once poured its waters onward to the 
Sound, depositing the great delta of "Hamden Plains" and the site mostlv occupied 
by New Flaven. 

The glacial ice cap is credited with having produced the change in the flow 
of rivers and witli iiaving lowered the summits of Carmel and East and West 
Rocks, which are thought to have been two thousand feet higher than at present. 
Mt. Carmel as an intruded lava flow from beneath the crust of red sandstone 
which covers the valley, brought in its make-up the native copper which has been 
found here in nuggets weighing ninety pounds, and doubtless the two hundred- 
pound scrap dug from the soil a few miles to the south, was conveyed thither by 
ice. The deposits of gold-bearing rock with silver and large quantities of magnetic 
iron disclose a vast field fully worthy of investigation for mineral wealth.^ Thev 
fully justify the opinions expressed by the extensive examinations made of this 
valley by Professor Charles U. Shepard, published in his report of Mineralogy 
of Connecticut in 1835, where he predicts this valley will become the richest 
mineral producing of the whole area. Here is a field which carries us back to 
the remote past for investigation and leaves plenty of room for future speculation 
as to what may yet be found in the bosom of these eternal hills. Numerous 
traditions exist of early explorations here. We have the fact that the mountain 
gave the name to the settlement, but who was the individual who boldly proclaimed 
the name as a fitting emblem of the ■Mount known by that name in Palestine? 

The unique situation and lofty views enjoyed from the summit, have always 
made it a favorite resort, and many attempts have been made to utilize and 
improve it in some manner which would benefit the promoters. In 1807 the 
proprietors of the land united in an association for that purpose, which continued 
in existence until 1842. The enclosing of the whole mountain by a lawful fence 
to protect the growing wood from stock, seems to be the extent of this association's 
improvements. Their work is of interest, as the records compiled show who 

^Note. Gold is found in assay by Arizona School of Mines, March 25, 1904, of 
which the Director, Professor William P. Blake, says: "The occurrence is very in- 
teresting to science and requires further careful investigation." 




PhoSografhed by H. B. H'cicii. 



VIEW FROM THE SIMMIT. 




Plwtogniphcil hy H. B. Welch. 



MILL RIVER. 



1 6 Colonial History 

then owned the land, and have been of much help in determining, at a later day. 
some of the original boundaries.^ So long as wood had a commercial value which 
placed a very favorable credit to the owner of woodlands, the sides and declivities 
were sharply defined by landmarks which denoted ownership. Economic changes 
wliich resulted from issues developed in the decade following i860, tended to 
lessen the value of landed property an.d country holdings to such an extent that 
outlying woodlands were little appreciated. When the preceding generation had 
passed, most of the young men found wealth and pleasure in employments more 
congenial than the farm. Following such a course of evolution during fortv 
years, land changed owners in some holdings, an.d boundaries were frequentlv 
defined witii irregularity. The common form of conveying bv deed, became, 
"bounded !)}■ land of" so and so, referring for more ])articular landmarks to 
"the original layout on record." By a tedious search of the Colonial Land 
Records, the original layout was at last found, and it is therein recorded in so 
definite measure that it is well worth} of perusal. 

Reviewing the histories of North Haven and Hamden in which the historians 
have gathered from every available source all facts possible to obtain, a meagre 
field seems left to glean for further incidents "in pastures green." No historian 
can be more painstaking than Thorpe, none more able than Blake ; their works 
can be read at every fireside. Still, there lingers a dearth of knowledge of what 
transpired in the immediate precincts of the historic mountain. 

Tn Blake's history of Hamden, much is told us of the manufacturers who 
built up pioneer industries on Mill River. \'ery little is said about the erection 
of the dam at the "Steps." Of the milling, the kiln-drying of corn, the making 
of cloth, the saw-mill — such industries as are at first needed bv the first settlers — 
we are left in the dark. Another mill sile one mile north of the "Steps," where 
industries fiourished during more than one hundred years, has no mention in 
contemporary histories. Few now living have recollections of what was done at 
these once centers of industrv. Not even a water-wheel now remains at one of 
these designated spots to show that once on its site the grain was ground for 
the planters of the Colony, and that the rye gin distilled there had a reputation 
for excellence which made a market iri foreign lands. The last mill man who 
lived on the spot and ran a saw-mill, Charles Downs, brought me a bunch of 
the finest wintergreen berries ever gathered, picked on the bank of this mill 
stream, and the same Charles Downs, then more than eightv vears old. knew 
where to find the first blooming arbutus in its virgin growth. 

On the morning of April 6th, 1902. the writer drove in quest of Charles 
Downs. Four score years had whitened his hair, but when last met his step was 



^Note. Extracts from the Blue Hill Common Field Record Book are given else- 
where in this volume. 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 



17 



firm and the characteristic vigor of early life seemed undiminished. Quick 
observation, with retentive memory, stored an active brain with varied experiences 
beyond the ken of most men now living. 

With my first inquiry, came the repl\ — he no longer lives. The past had 
reclaimed him with the unnumbered host. Recollections none else can give, 
rest with him. Future people may appreciate history better from efforts to restore 
what is easy matter for the present to preserve, therefore make note of present 
events ; the past will then be preserved, the future will always be at dawn. 

One more worker in the Mill 

Has ceased his labors and lies low; 
Tlie wheel, obedient to his will. 

Stopped long ago. 
Green grass now grows, the sod is firm; 

A crumpled ruin all the Mill site shows. 
Charles Downs was last in all the realm 

Who raised the gate, where still the water flows. 
Who was the first, tradition does not tell. 

One Century. How much is lost! 
How little thought we in this age who dwell. 

To soon forget the records valued most. 




Photographed by R. E. O'Brien. 



W EST \\(JODS CEMETERY 



1 8 Colonial History 



Geologic Formations. 



Give us a day in tliat earlier time 

When the tide mlled in from the sea. 
Where it met the flow from the northern clime 

And formed the plain we see. 
The mountain peaks then reared aloft, — 

To the clouds their summits rose; 
East Rock, the Pines, and the Cave — a "drift" 

Where the Judges sought repose. 
That came in the glacial age and found 

West Rock, above all tidal throes! 
No name then lay on Carmel's lirow 

Of dale, — that age is dim; 
We read the book tiiat lies below 

The rush (.f waters grim. 

i ELECT! X("i as cur place for observation, the spot called In- the colonial 
settlers of Xew Haven, "vShepherds" Plain," looking toward the north we 
stand in a vast amphitheatre with a single outlet at the western foot of 
Carniel. Tlie ga]) at this place is not more than 800 feet wide. The highest 
point of tlie trap dyke was originali\ at least fift\- feet above the river bed. A 
large gravel drift lies just south of this highest point in the dyke, showing that 
here was for a long period of lime, a great falls of the mighty river that flowed 
here, and the gravel carried over was worke<l u]) by the current on either side as 
it natm-all} would be. and left just where it now lies. 

There seems no way to estimate the time required to wear down the rock 
by the river flow in the narrow gorge, dammed for mill uses as earlv as 1733. 
At that time l)ut one other dam was on the stream — that at U'hitneyville. 

To the south of these falls, the ])rimeval river which must have often flowed 
one hundred feet deep, spread over an area one mile or more wide. The water 
flowed eastward over the valley south and at the foot of Carmel, where a small 
plain was formed by the drift gravel and sand, rising in its highest part fifty 
feet above the river bed of the present day ; numerous bowls and depressions are 
here found such as water will create by a heavv pressure flowing over a nearly 
level surface. .-\11 the evidences are found in this valley which we shotild expect 
under such conditions. The vast numbers of stone found with rounded sides, 
through the bottom of the valley, show the current was strong enough to bring 




Tup: Parish ok Mount Carmel. 19 

them along an immense distance, depositing them where found and carr_\'ino- on 
the loam, gravel and fine particles to a lower level. The sides of the vallev have 
the debris in finer material, mixed with coarse stones and streaks of sand. Where 
the volume of water came in conjunction with the sea is shown in the vast plain 
lying between East and West Rocks. That which refers to the original Parish 
of Mount Carmel embraces a two-mile area north of the mountain, where a 
similar condition of drift gravel covers the valley. A great basin extends far 
north where the Farmington and Quinnipiac Rivers once united in a common 
course through this valley to the sea. The underlying strata of red sandstone 
found in this valley, rises in ridges on either side, and often in irregular peaks 
along the valley. Such peaks of sandstone are often irrupted with trap dvkes, 
and in Mount Carmel itself we find the greatest irruption of the region. Orig- 
inally, this and the peaks of East and West Rocks are thought to have been 
several thousand feet high, thus bearing nov^' the proportion of a stump to a 
tree. 

Looking at the geological formation of the valley in this view, it is easy to 
understand why such a condition exists that is perplexing from an\' other view. 
W^e see why these gravelly soils are such poor agricultural lands, being loose and 
porous, not retaining elements of fertility, while the decomposed red sandstone, 
where of sufficient depth to form soil, is the most retentive and proves of value 
for all uses to the cultivator. It is particularly of great value in orchard culture 
and fiuit of all varieties, as its slow decomposition affords a constant supply of 
potash to the growing plant. 




|;ASAI,TIC- column (JX JJIIKil MorXTAlN KKAK \1K\\". 

PhoUigrat'hcd hy H. B. It 'rich. 




BASALTIC COLUMN OX THIRD MOUNTAIN— RRAR VIEW, 

Photographed by H. B. Welch. 



22 Colonial History 



Reminiscences of the Indians. 

pr\EARIX(i clown on the home stretch toward Xew York, when the tourist 
ry\ returning- from tlie Eastern world approaches Long Island, the first 
o'limmer of land is ]\Ioimt Carmel. The Carmel of the Holv Land has 
its prototype here. Cunceived m the spirit of worship, its name was bestowed 
in the petition for a colonial charter by wliichi a house might be built wherein to 
worship God. 

Thus tile Carmel of to-day, earlier known, as the "Blue Hills," and later 
christened "The Sleeping Giant," speaks to the lovers of tw(T hemispheres. 

When viewed from the north, the outlines from Alts. Tom and Holyoke 
embrace Carmel in their view. The veteran innkeeper on the Catskills said to a 
partv from Xew Haven, "What do you call that mountain just north of your 
at\ which we see from here on a favorable day?" \\'hen viewed from the south, 
Carmel shows its noble ])roportions. To the early navigators of the Sound it 
must have been a familiar landmark, and attracted the notice of William Haswell 
when making the coast survey for the Lnited States government, and he made 
his abode here at the summit three weeks, his camp consisting of a covered 
wagon and accoutrements. This w-as about 1830. 

For more than two and one-lialf centuries after the settlement of Xew 
Haven, Carmel lay in C(Mrii)arati\e solitude. A new era dawned in 1888. Its 
hitherto impregnable fastnesses were broken when on July 4th of that year no 
less than fifty carriages and two hundred visitors ascended to the summit over 
the road just then completed. From that date, progress has been onward. House 
after house has found a nesting place where the outlook repays the ascent of 
toil. Xine such summer cottages now- afiford a vacation of luxury to the owners. 
As history is not concerned with what is to come, the future mav be for others 
to record. ( )f the hamlet which clusters at its foot, the stasre coach has eiven 
place to the trolley, the first line of which across the state is near completion, 
constructed in the UKist a])i)roved form of modern building, the heaviest rails and 
full-sized steam road cross-ties being used in its make-up, and the ride through 
the f^arish of Mount Carmel will not be the least interesting part of the way 
between Xew York and Ilostun. 

So much of future ])ossibilities cluster about this spot, thought takes more 
kindly to prophecy than to tradition, but in writmg history such must be ignored 
and left for the future historian to make record of the prospects in store for 
these everlasting hills. In thought we see the last of the Quinnipiacs looking 



Tin: Parish of Mount Carmkl. 



23 



from the summit over the valley of their departing homes. We hear their last 
plaintive song as it sounded sixty years ago from the last remnant of the tribe, 
as the writer saw their ])icturesqtie figures poised one May morning on an 
overhanging crag of the rocky precipice. 

Like the last rays of sunset our days are now numbered. 

Like the forest leaves strewed by autumn winds blear ; 
(Jur hopes are all perished, our chiefs have all slumbered, 

By our foes we are smitten, Dur griefs — who can bear? 
We have trod the dark forest when the red deer mingled 

Its sports and its gambols with the doe and its fawn; 
With our bow and our <|uiver we then could well single 

One out of the troop to our wigwam adorn. 
The skin of the panther and wolf lay together 

Where stretched at full length from the chase we'd repose. 
While the mantle of Bruin our shoulders would cover 

And sweet were the dreams in our fancy arose. 
Our land was the home of the free and the wild; 

Our thoughts maj^ be wilful — our actions are true; 
Our wigwam's mir home for our squaw and our child, 

Our love will not perish as with sunshine the dew. 




HASWELL LEDGE THIRD MOUNTAIN. 



Photographed by H. B. Wckh. 



24 Colonial History 

With what lofty grandeur of spirit was uttered the acceptance of his death 
sentence, b}" the patriot of his band, "Xepaupuck" ("werein") "it is well." 
Historians applaud martyrs who die for their acts committed to save their country 
— if one such Indian is condemned as a riiurderer of white men, he sutTers at 
their hands an io'nominious death — of him no word has been written to com- 
memorate a lofty spirit. A distinguished professor of Yale University, in a 
public lecture, said of "British Rule in India": "The natives did not understand 
the nature of written contracts." Follow what DeForest says of the Quinnipiac 
Indians, "Knowing- little of European modes of life, and judging of the colonists 
greatlv b\- themselves, they supposed that the latter would cultivate but little 
land, and support themselves for the rest, by trading, fishing and hunting. Little 
did they think that in the course of years the white population would increase 
from scores to hundreds, and from hundreds to thousands ; that the deep forest 
would be cut down ; that the wild animals would disappear ; that the fish would 
grow few in the rivers ; and that the poor remnant of the Quinnipiacs would 
eventually leave the graves of their forefathers and wander away into another 
land. Could they have anticipated that a change so wonderful, and, in their 
history, so unprecedented, would of necessity follow the coming of the white 
man, they would have preferred the W'ampun tributes of the Pecjuots and the 
scalping parties of the Five Nations, to the vicinity of a people so kind, 
so peaceable and yet so destructive." 

Note the poetic thought in the mode of conveyance of the title of the land 
from the sovereignt\- of the tribe, to the English: "A follower hands to his chief 
a piece of turf and a twig. Anasantawae (the chief) stuck the twig in the turf 
and gave both into the hands of the English." Thus, forever, the land passed 
from the ownership of the "aborigines." And who were they, and from whence? 
We can onlv commemorate their memory and be thankful that this tribe, the 
Quinnipiacs, did not stain our soil (which they sold, comprising eighteen miles 
from east to west and thirteen miles from the coast line to the north) with the 
blood of our forefathers. The one patriot of their band, Nepaupuck, who fought 
for his race, straved into New Haven in 1630, when he was apprehended and 
speedil) executed. 




The Parish of Mount Carmel. 25 



The Steps. 

NE of the first landmarks of the earHest settlers, and to which reference 
is frequently made in this history, was the "Steps," their location being 
between the store now owned by Homer B. Tuttle, and the upper factory 
of the Mount Carmel Axle Works. Since that day the trap dike has been cut 
through, first for a highway and chartered turni)ike in 1798, and again b}- the 
Farmington Canal Co. in 1825, and a third cut much larger than the other cuts 
through the rock was made b}- the New Haven & Northampton Railroad Co. in 
about 1882, but at first the highway at this point was obstructed by the trap 
rock, the onlv passage being the "Steps." There is a tradition preserved by 
Homer B. Tuttle. now a merchant at that location, that his grandmother, who 
was a Kimberly, said that her grandmother had told of riding on horseback down 
the Steps on lier way to New Haven. It appears that the locality was difficult 
to pass over, and ma>- have been regarded perilous similar to Putnam's descent 

at Horseneck. 

The origin of the word trap as applied to rock, is Swedish, from "trappa," 
signifying "stairs," this rock havmg that preponderating character in its forma- 
tion. These steps are found in various widths, sometimes narrow, frequently 
wide and covering a surface of several feet between each division ; thus, at this 
particular spot in Mount Carmel they constituted an elongated plane ascending 
along the side of the dike until they reached the top, and were ascended and 
descended most frequently on horseback, not admitting the passage of wheeled 
vehicles until after a passage was cut through the dike and a large amount of 
filling done on the south side to build a road. 

The course traveled is mentioned as a "path" in 1722, but it was a continu- 
ation of a highway ordered to be laid out in 1686 and that it should be six rods 
wide. This "layout" does not appear to have been complete until 1722, continuing 
through New Haven bounds where the north boundary was by the farm of 
Daniel Andrews. Broad ideas were held by pioneers of those days. The 
beautiful street laid out through the village of Mount Carmel, that for more 
than one mile has a straight and uninterrupted view, before 1800 was built up 
with two-story colonial houses with two rooms fronting the street, which was six 
rods wide. A few still remain, landmarks of a century's growth. Many have 
disappeared within the memory of the writer. The street has been narrowed to 
four rods, which for thirty years was occupied in part by a steam railroad, and 
at the present time by a trolley line. Had the six-rod width been preserved, few 
towns in the state could have presented a drive of more natural beauty. 




Pliotogruplicl by H. B. it'clcli. 



THE (jLD "kiaii;i-:klv" store. 




PholographcJ hy R. E. O'Brien 



SITE OK THE STEPS. 




Pholografhed by H. B. Welch. 



AT THE LOWER DAM. 




Pholograthcd by Tkcodorc Vkk -pjjj- MILL-DAM AT THE "STEPS." 



28 Colonial History 

Nature bestowed large gifts on the make-np of Mount Carmel. Few localities 
exist where a river, with water power, a turnpike, a canal, steam railroad, and 
electric trolley are all combined in so narrow space. The benfits accruing 
where so many businesses converge have not accumulated the resident wealth 
that naturallv flows to such a center. There has been much to mar the beauty 
here. Three well built homes were removed to make way for the canal. The 
houses now stand on the east side of the highwa}-. in much inferior situations to 
the place where originally l)uilt. A fourth house, erected by Samuel Bellamy, 
stood near the present church. The house was commodious, two-story, in good 
colonial style, with a broad lawn in front, and ample space to the highway. This 
house was made the official home of Day Spring Lodge of Free Masons, organized 
in 1794. The canal cut through the front yard in 1825. Thereafter this place, 
and manv other homes that faced the street on the west side, lost much attractive- 
ness. The canal proved a pecuniary loss to every one connected with it. 

In 1800 the chartered Turnpike Co. had usurped the rights of the townsmen 
to their six-rod highway, and placed an obnoxious toll gate, collecting gate money 
on what had been a free road. Several town meetings were summoned in August 
and September, 1803, when votes were recorded to order the selectmen to remove 
the fence, only to leave so much as stood on the four rods, ceded to the Chartered 
Turnpike Companw 

September 19, 1803. W)ted, "That a petitinu be presented to the General 
Assembly, praying a removal of the Cheshire turnpike gate, established in this 
town so that the inhabitants can have the use of their old roads free of toll, or 
relief in some other manner, and the selectmen are hereby directed to have said 
petition, and to subscribe it in the name and behalf of the town." All these 
attempts proved utterly futile, as the narrowed highway contimied, and toll 
was collected by the Turnpike Company later than 1850. 

Ostensibly to shun the steam cars, but in fact more to clear the toll gate, 
a highway was built about 1850, east of, and crossing Mill River. This road 
was mostly built by private subscription. By making a detour of a little more 
than one mile, the toll gate was passed, and much danger from passing trains 
of cars avoided. So much were the profits eliminated from the gate fees, that 
the Turnpike Company relinquished their charter and the highway became once 
more a free road. 

Mr. John L. Preston, of Cheshire, furnishes the following ancient document, 
which is of especial interest at this point in our history, as it refers to the Steps 
just described. The document is labelled. "Munson & Hotchkiss Covenant/' and 
the saw-mill of which it treats was located at the dam on the river where is now 
the lower shop of the Mount Carmel Axle Works : 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 29 

"This INDENTURE MADE this ninth day of December, 1735, WITNESSETH 
that whereas Joel Alunson of the town and County of New Haven in the Colonie of 
Connecticut in New England, have Erected and built a Saw mill on the River called 
New Haven Mill River, att or near a place called the Steps in New Haven afors'd, 

"It is agreed between the sd Joel Munson on the one part and Jacob Hotchkiss of 
sd New Haven on the other part, that the said Munson shall keep and maintain a 
Good and Sufficient Saw mill, either by himself or his heirs or assigns att or near the 
place that the aforesd mill now standeth as long as the sd Munson his heirs or assigns 
or the Selectmen of the town of New Haven shall think and judge that a saw mill may 
or shall be accounted advantageous & profitable in sd place and as long as sd Saw- 
mill shall so remain. I, the sd Joel Munson do bind myself, my heirs, exrs, admrs & 
assigns to saw the one half of sd term that the mill can run for the sd Jacob Hotchkiss 
his heirs, exrs, or admrs or assigns att any and all times when he or they shall have 
any loggs at the sd mill, and if in case he the sd Hotchkiss his heirs &c shall have no 
loggs att the sd mill then the sd Munson his heirs &c have libertie to Improve sd 
mill, the whole time to their best advantage until such time as that there be by sd 
Hotchkiss his heirs &c a supply of loggs provided and then the sd Munson shall again 
att the Request of the sd Hotchkiss Improve the sd mill the one half of sd time in 
the sawing of such loggs as he the sd Hotchkiss shall direct, either into board, plank, 
slit oak &c which by the judgment of two Lawyers if difference arise, shall be counted 
good and merchantable, and the sd Jacob Hotchkiss doth bind himself his heirs and 
assigns to Rendor unto the sd Munson his heirs &c the one half of the load plank, slit 
work &c that shall be sawed out of loggs that are twelve foot long and fifteen inches 
Diameter at the smallest end that did belong to and were the propertie of the sd 
Hotchkiss his heirs &c and for loggs of shorter dimentions as they the parties con- 
cerned can agree or as two indififerent persons may or shall think just, each party to 
choose one. and if in case either party refuse, the other to choose both, to which 
agreement we as the parties before named viz: Joel Munson and Jacob Hotchkiss 
have hereunto Interchangeably sett our hands and seals and do by these presents bind 
ourselves our heirs, exrs admrs and assigns faithfully to keep and perform every clause 
and article of the foregoing Covenant and agreement according to the true intent and 
meaning of the foregoing and above written on the forfiture of one hundred pounds 
money payable by the party nott complying therewith to the party wronged or suffering 
thereb}', upon demand or upon the breach of any part or articles thereof. Signed and 
sealed the day and year aforsd. ''T'\COR HOTCHKISS 

"Signed Sealed and 
Delivered in presence of 

"ISRAEL SMITH" 
SAM'L DARLING." 

A feature of our economic system is much to be regretted, that hy review 
of the past, short as it is, compared with associations of country Hfe in England 
and on the European Continent, we find here, allowing the full limit of two 
Inmdred years since our first houses were huilt. so few families at the present 
day, owning and occupying the land of their fathers. As it appears here, the 
same is true throughout New England. It is not sufficient to say this is all 
brought about by depletion of our soils, low prices for farm products, and Western 
farm competition. To one who has lived and farmed on the Western prairies, 



30 Colonial History 

and known the personal inconveniences of life there, and truly compared the 
situation with a Xew England farm, the balance should l)e in favor of an Eastern 
home. We must look for other reasons that determine youth to leave the farm. 
The hatred of oppression that was a primal cause in settling- Xew England, led 
the pioneers to abolish all tenures of land after the life of the testator ; hence 
followed the law of distribution of tlie farm. The work of accumulation that 
has progressed by the united work of the family to the enriching of a homestead, 
is shortly dissipated, unless one of the many heirs assumes the load of responsibility 
to carr}- alone what has been previously borne by the united labors of the famil\ . 
Is there reason to wonder that such a system can produce aught but abandonment 
of farms ? We have now arrived at that point in our economic situation where 
some of the immigrants landing in America, take up the phase much as our 
forefathers found it, and with a farm fotir-fold reduced in value from the demise 
of the last testator, begin the work of restoration, aided by a numerous family. 

Thus we find the names of the descendants of our pioneer settlers of the 
I'arish of Mount Carmel, such as Bradley. Andrews, Allen, Peck, Dickerman, 
Ives, Bellamy, Bassett, ^lunson, Tuttle, Perkins, Kimberley, Hitchcock, Brockett, 
Doolittle, Todd, and a host of others who h.ave sought careers in dift'erent avenues 
of life, with the result that when now nduig throtigh the Parish of Mount Carmel, 
the individual descendants occupying the homes of their ancestors can be counted 
on the fingers of the iiands. The rich inheritance of fathers to sons, of historic 
family associations, cannot entlure where such short-lived customs of inheritance 
continue in vogue. There is a destructive competition carried on between pro- 
ducers engaged in similar lines of production. Much time is unnecessarilv lost 
by farmers carrying to market small amounts of perishable products. In so 
doing they often beg a market from house to house, accepting any price ofirered. 
The total receipts of a day's sale will often fall below the compensation of a fair 
allowance for man and team. The demoralized condition of the market values, 
subject to such a system of sales, is destructive to a prosperous condition of 
agriculture in towns near manufacturing centers. The farmer who lives remote 
from the centers of consumption, imites all his efiforts in the production of some 
staple crops, and by consigning to, or selling otitright to men familiar with market 
values, reaps a much better reward. 

In the old colonial days the landed "Proprietors" had a significance in their 
name that has long since departed. The earliest records are preserved under the 
title. of "Proprietors' Records," which then extended chiefly to land. While this 
comforting assurance existed of a real worth in landed titles, agriculture flourished, 
measures were adopted for emulation in particular lines, and a distinction worth 
preserving was the approval of having the best stock exhibited at the County fair. 
The Xew Haven County Agricultural Societ}- may have passed before the memorv 
of the present generation. To its credit may be placed the record of one of 



The Parish of Mount Carmkl. 



31 



the earliest, if not the first organization of the kind in the United States. It is 
known that leading farmers in Mount Carmel aided liberal]}' in promoting success- 
ful exhibitions for a long period. Sterling Bradley, whose houses and barns 
still stand as he built them on th.e old colonial highway, afterward the turnpike, 
was an earl}- promoter of choice cattle. His Durham stock long held precedence 
in the town, and his name became proverbial as associated with fine oxen. It 
was the custom at the County fair to award a liberal premium to the most numerous 
and best team of oxen exhibited by any town within the county. The team 
started at or near the home of Sterling llradley and continued to augment as 
it |)roceeded through the town until (ine hundred and tweiUy-five yoke of oxen 
were gathered in the "round up" on Xew Haven (ireen. Mount Carmel always 
carried home the banner of victory when an efi:'ort was made to get out its full 
quota. On one occasion the returning team, numbering ninety yoke of oxen, was 
attached to a plow and turned a furrow up through Whitney Avenue, beginning 
near where Sachem Street intersects. Mr. Ford, a town resident of more than 
ninety years old, held the plow as it slowly proceeded throtigh the avenue, directed 
b_\- marshals on horseback, the victorious oxen decorated with blue ribbons. 

A much better system of farming then prevailed than in the present day. 
Fields were tilled in more successful rotation of crops, and with more individual 
care. The cost of cultivation in cash value was less, and the profit greater. 




r.U I r.T BY LYMAN BRADLEY. 

Photographed by K. E. crbricii. w^^t^m Home of F. C. Dickerman. 



32 



Colonial Histcjry 



Relation to North Haven. 

To what extent Mount Carmel Parisli was indebted to North Haven during 
pioneer life, can be gleaned onl\- in ])art by consulting historians who 
have made special work in individual research. Thorpe, in "North Haven 
Annals," mentions the name of each known resident, and also several from Mount 
Carmel who were members of the North Haven Ecclesiastical Society. 

Keeping in mind the fact that North Haven was settled many years earlier 
than Mount Carmel, gives sul^cient cause for families going to "meeting" there. 

North Haven Parish, chartered in 1716, extended to the land now occupied 
bv the jMount Carmel church, and in 1757 embraced twelve families now included 
in Moimt Carmel. The North Haven Parish then included about fortv families. 
When Mount Carmel was made a i^arish in 1757, between twent_\- and thirty 
families were taken from North Haven, and included in Mount Carmel. In 1764, 
when Mount Carmel Church was formed, eighteen members from North Haven 
Church were embodied in the Mount Carmel Church. They had communed 
with the North Haven Church until that time. The population (3f North Haven 
P'arish in 1700 was estimated as one hundred. 




BUILT HV NATHANIEL SiTLKAJAN IN I772. 
PJuitograthcd hy R. E. O'Byicu. 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 33 



Church Notes. 



rpv\ ESIDENTS of the parish were early given to theological controversy. 
[(/ Such influences developed first attempts to get a Colonial charter for 
'-''^ independence from the North Haven denomination, which is characterized 
bv the genial historian, Thorpe, as "An incident calculated to vex the soul." 
Quoting from the "Colonial Records," he says: "Upon the memorial of Daniel 
Bradley and others, the inhabitants of the north part of the first society of New 
Haven, showing that they live at a great distance from the public worship in said 
society, pray to have a committee to view the circumstances of the memorialists 
and if they shall think it meet and best, make them a distinct ecclesiastic society 
as by the memorial on file more fully appears." 

Following, in "North Haven Annals," appears the contest waged before the 
Colonial Assembly, to defeat the petitioners, and six months later to curtail an 
enlargement. 

Choosing the site and the building of the first house for worship is relegated 
to the past. No tradition throws light on what may have hindered or advanced 
the work. During a period of forty years, there may have been comparative 
quiet. Nearbv was erected a church building by Episcopal churchmen, which 
was later removed three miles south. Work for a new building in which to 
worship must have commenced near 1830. Mention is made of many meetings 
called before an agreement was settled as to a site for the new building. Members 
who lived south, sought to remove or build the new house one-half mile or more 
in that course. The members who lived north were obdurate. Their consent 
was limited to a removal only across the street, which there leads west, making 
it not more than two hundred feet. Such was the ultimate decision, and the 
new meeting house was complete in about 1835. 

Although the name of the author who christened Mount Carmel is veiled 
in obscurity, the inspiration suggested by its reference to scenes of the Holy Land 
mav have something in it to promote a favorite home for ministers of the church. 
Whatever may have been the leading tendency, we find no less than four ministers 
have here built homes for family residence, and six others, born to the manor, 
or from its immediate ancestry, have made the ministry a life-work. 

Those who here built homes, which are still an ornament in the parish, were: 

Rev. Nathaniel Sherman, 1772. Present residence of George A. Morton. 

Rev. Israel P. Warren, D.D , 1850. Present residence of F. H. Pierce. 

Rev. Stephen Hubbell, 1872. Present residence of Henry L. Ives. 

Rev. Joseph Brewster, 1856. Rebnih in 1880. Present residence of William Brewster. 

Rev. Robert C. Bell, 1899. A mountain cottage. 



34 



Colonial History 



Native born : 

Rev. GeDrge A. Dickerman, Re\'. George S. Dickerman, D.D., Rev. Frederick 
Francis, Rev. William E. Todd, D.D.. Rev. George Goodyear, ALA., graduate of Yale 
1824, died 1844; Rev. Jason Atwater, B.A., graduate of Yale 1825, died i860. 

May we not construe inherent meditation filled the air of this "guarded retreat 
of the mountain ? 

In the profession of medicine, we can quote but one, native born, Edwin 
Swift. M.D. 

In law, two — Dennis Tuttle, h'rancis Ives. 

It is difficult to write of Mount Carmel as seen to-day. Like a panorama, 
the scene is constantly changing. Within the lifetime of those now living, 
manufactories iiave lieen built, increased with great rapidit}" and shortly removed 
to continue enlarged operations in the nearby city. The Rubber Co., which tirst 
located here, also the refining of barytes. and the manufacture of wagon springs, 
the first boys' school to adopt the militarx uniform and drill, all the above have 
passed out of Mount Carmel. 

Another now flourishing institution is the Children's Home, occupying the 
former residence of James Ives, which he remodeled into a dwelling from what 
was built and called the Young Ladies' Seminary, conducted b\- Miss Elizabeth 
Dickerman aiid sister : where a few boys, tlie writer being one of them, were in- 




Pholographcd by B. H. Sclieuck. 



BLILT F.V EL.AM IVLS. 



The Parish of Mount Car.mki.. 



35 




CHILDKliNS HOMK AT MT. CARMKL. 
Former Home of James Ives. 

structed in the sciences. Few in those classes now live and know the earlier 
history of the place. Tis not for those living- that these reveries are conceived, 
bnt, rather, that those who come after mav g-ain some recollections of former 

davs. 

Tames H. Webb, Esquire, who, among other legal honors, was delegate 
froni Hamden to the State Convention in Hartford in 1902 for remodeling the 
Constitution, has delivered this discriminating tribute to the farm: 

"Mr. Chairman: Wc should appreciate the farm if only as a means of rescuing 
our boys from the eternal drudgery of an office or counting room, or from the possible 
slavery of becoming mere adding machines, or quill-drivers in the clerical department 
of some great Corporation." 

Let the boys of the future ponder on this sentiment and compare with it 
the life of the boy on the farm, of the past. There was a time, no more remote 
than the days of the boyhood of our fathers, when the streak of light that 
ushered in the new-born day found the farmer boy astir, among the oxen and 
cows, which were foddered before daylight in winter, to be ready when day 
dawned to voke to the sled, and when the snow queaked beneath the maple 
runners in the frosty morn, a load of logs was hurried on for the cit>- market. 
Darkness often closed when the team again foddered in the barn, and a hearty 
supper was eaten before the fire of blazing logs. 



36 



Colonial History 



Quoting from Hamden Centenary : 

"James Ives, one of the earliest settlers rm his farm which lay just within the 
bounds of the Parish, and near the present manufactory of W. Woodruff & Sons, said 
to his son Elam, who called in early morn to see him in his last sickness. — 'The sun 
has got up before me this morning, which it has not done before in twenty years.' " 

Think of such a record to look back upon ! Xo steam gongs or factory 
bells awoke the stillness of those early days. The boys here grew to know 
nature's laws, and they went forth to conquer. After the forests were subdued, 
such men conquered the forces of steam, of mechanics, of electricity. Men 
from the farm became the greatest Presidents of the Republic, and the most 
able generals. Are there not still forces on the farm to be subdued, worthy of 
the intelligence of the rising generation ? 

Close by the historic farm of James Ives, now the property of William 
Brewster, Esq., in the brick hall built by James Ives, a descendant of later fame, 
literary entertainments of considerable originality have been acquitted with 
credit to all participants, and netted considerable amounts for the benefit of the 
Mount Carmel Library, and for the Village Improvement Association. 





-■'^ 


■ 'OF^V^* ■■- '• ■• ■ ' -Oil " • 




^^HHHh^^^^Hb^BMHH '''l^K 


■■". ■ 


^^SEpjiil 





Photographed hy B. H. SchcH-k. JAMES IVES FARM. 

Later Known as "The Squire Todd Place.'' 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. VJ 




Colonial Family Records. 

THE BRADLKY FAMILY. 

XTREME difficulty is found in getting correct dates of the time first 
settlers made their home in Mount Carmel. 

Mrs. M. F. Lounsbury, of Bethany, Conn., has furnished data 
referring to the Bradley family, who first formed extensive settlements in the 
extreme north part of New Haven Colony. Better ideas prevail to think of all 
as a part of New Haven. Thus, to begin the building of a new homestead by a 
resident of New Haven, within the township, was only a short step from the 
parental roof. The departure of Daniel Bradley from numerous relatives in 
1730, a distance of ten miles, may have been a very commonplace incident. Daniel's 
ancestry includes William Bradley, who came from England with the founders 
of the colony in 1637, and was a captain in Cromwell's army. 

The location of the homestead of Daniel Bradley was on the farm later 
owned by Lambert Dickerman. About five hundred feet east of the present 
homestead, the original Farmington road passed through that farm, passing the 
house of Daniel Bradley, and continuing to the Cheshire line near the present 
home of Thomas Hull. 

The line from Daniel was continued through his son Joel to Amasa, the 
father of Sterling and Horace. Here the male line of descent is broken, as no 
sons were born to either of the last named. None now live to relate historic 
tales of adventure which might have befallen these pioneers. The name of Daniel 
Bradley appears as a leading man in whatever incidents of church and state 
interested the people. He died in 1773, having been a member of the church 
organized in North Haven prior to the obtaining of the charter of the Mount 
Carmel parish. His name appears as deacon in the Mount Carmel Episcopal 
Church, and the family influence continued strong through the lives of the 

Bradley family. 

Those who lived prior to 1800 enjoyed colonial life after the manner dictated 
by pioneer life. Whatever of their works remain show broad and sound ideas 
prevailed in establishing the future welfare of the people. The dawn of the 
nineteenth century ushered many innovations on the primitive past. Corporations 
began to reach out to monopolize freedom of the people, where a limited few 
could be enriched thereby. Looking back after the lapse of one hundred years 
we can see but little benefit accruing to the organization of a turnpike company 



38 Colonial Hlstory 

in 1800, to collect toll for traveling: on what had been a free road. After outliving- 
the Turnpike company, we find the highway curtailed from the original width of 
one hundred feet to sixty-six feet — and that much in 1898 encroached by a trolley 
track. 

Then came a Canal corporation in 1822, following closely after the Turnpike 
companv. liv the canal a million dollars were lost to investors, and many homes 
destroyed. 

The Turnpike company proved less disastrous, financially, under the powerful 
management of Sterling Bradley, who enriched the corporation owning the 
toll gate. 

By receiving three thousand dollars from the newly incorporated Railroad 
company in 1846, to use the turnpike for a roadbed, life and property were 
jeopardized by those who traveled the highway during a period of thirty years. 
The will of the people at last prevailed ; the charter of the Turnpike company 
was revoked, and later b}' a payment of fourteen thousand dollars to the Railroad 
ciimpau)- in 1880, they were induced to remove their roadbed to a new location. 

Those who live in the beginning of the twentieth century see something of 
a return in freedom to colonial days. We can drive wherever we will without 
the sixpence for the toll gatherer ; we do not suffer the dread of being run down 
on the street by a lightning express train. The trolley serves rather than detracts 
from country pleasures. Stone roads furnish admirable ways for the wheel, and 
the monarch of the automobile alone gleams as a future rival and danger to be 
met by the horsemen. 

The Bradley homesteads still stand, an ornament to the town, and the estate 
of Sterling Bradley was one of the largest gathered in the parish. Some of his 
works endure in well conceived utility, and his late residence, built bv his father, 
Amasa Bradley, has within it a ground-work as per])etual as the underlying 
rocks of the valley. 

The following is contributed to the compilers of "Dickerman Ancestry," by 
Dr. William Bradley, of Evanston, HI., being a paper prepared by his father, Dr. 
Samuel B. Bradley, of (ireece, N. Y., whose residence here in Mount Carmel in 
1800 is graphically told: 

"According to family tradition, we are descended from William Bradley, an ofticer 
of CromwelTs army, who came to Connecticut about 1650, and was tlie first settler of 
the town of North Haven. His son was Abraham, a deacon in the church of New 
Ha\en. His son was Daniel Bradley the first. The next in succession was Daniel 
Bradley the second, commonly called "Deacon Daniel," my great-grandfather. He 
had five sons; Daniel, the eldest, was deacon in the church in Hamden (Mount Carmel 
Parish) and lived to be ninety-three years old. William, the second son, died in 
Lanesboro, i\Iass., December i8th, 1S09, aged seventy-nine; Jabez, the third son, died 
in Hamden; Jesse, the fourth son, died in Lee. Mass., very aged; Joel, the youngest, 
was my grandfather. . . . When I was between three and four, we went to 



The Parish of AIount Carmel. 39 

Connecticut to live with our grandparents; 1 in Hamden with Grandfather Bradley, 
and Mary Ann in Cheshire with Beach. 

"Of my residence in Hamden. my recollections are vivid; 1 was not seven years 
old." ("This home, the 'Joel Bradley place,' was at the north end of the town, on a 
road going west from the turnpike, the property owned by the late Mr. James Leek. 
A modern house now occupies the ground, but a few years ago an ancient homestead 
was standing, in good preservation — a fine, ()ld lean-to-back house, some fifty or more 
feet from the street, with grand elms shading the front yard, and looking squarely 
toward the southern sun. It was, perhaps, the best specimen of an old-time farm- 
house in the whole town." — Note from Dickerman Ancestry.) 

"Near by lived Amos and Asa Bradley, cousins of my grandfather, with numerous 
families. In another direction was my great-uncle, Daniel Bradley, and his son. 
Deacon Aaron Bradley, with his children, David and Patty. To the south were my 
aunts Dickerman and Kimberly, and my uncles Amasa and Elam with their numerous 
families, m}- cousins; and over the river, under the mountain, lived uncle Jesse Tuttle, 
half-brother of my Grandmother Bradley, and his pretty daughter. Lucy, who was 
drowned in the river March 26th, 1807, aged twelve years. 

"I learned my letters of 'Parson Ives' out of his prayer-book. He lived in Cheshire 
and served the church in Hamden, and used frecjuently to call at my grandfather's 
who was an Episcopalian. My grandmother was a Congregationalist. Her minister 
was Rev. Asa Lyman, whom I well recollect. Col. Samuel Bellamy kept tavern and 
store at the Center, and lived in great style." 

(Note by present writer: The Bellamy Tavern stood just north of the first church, 
and remained standing until about 1880. It was demolished when J. E. Andrews and 
C. A. Burleigh built the feed store occupying the land where formerly stood the Bellam>- 
Tavern. The store was doubtless at the "Steps," the place now occupied by H. B. 
Tuttle. The following story is told as having occurred at this tavern: In 1800 Dr. 
Jones was a boarder at the Bellamy Tavern. Arriving one night late to dinner, a party 
of merry-makers had eaten the repast. Dr. Jones perpetrated the following: 

"Curse those owls 
Who ate these fowls, 
And left the bones 
For Doctor Jones.'' 

The oldest burial in the north cemetery is that of Samuel Bellamy, 1760, aged 40 
years.) 

Dr. Samuel Bradley resumes: "Here I first went to school. Kitty Monson was 
my first teacher; afterwards, Mr. Blakesley, whom I saw on a visit more than forty 
years after. My school companions were ]\iary, Joseph and Amos Hough, Sukey 
Deering, David and Patty Bradley, Asa Bradley and his sisters; Lucy Tuttle, Enos 
Brooks, my cousins Horace and Sterling Bradley, L. Monson. During my attendance 
at school, the turnpike was completed. Previously to that 1 had never seen a four- 
wheeled carriage. The people went to market with ox carts and to meeting with 
one-horse chaises, or on horseback with one on the pillion. 

"My grandfather (Joel Bradley) was a driving business man. He died in 1801, 
and I then lived with my grandmother. She died in 1828. aged eighty-eight, outliving 
three of her sons, Amasa. Seymour, and my father, and two of her daughters, Phoebe 
and INIary." 




HOMI-: OF DAVID BRADLEY, THE PREACHER. 

Photograplicd by Mary T utile Allen. 




/""W 









Photographed by R. E. O'Brien. HOME OF HOWARD BRADLEV. 




riiofograflu'd hy H. B. Welch. THE "j*'!'-!- UKADLEY PI^ACE. 




Flwlograrlicd by R. E. O'Brien. STERLING BRADLEY HOMESTEAD. 



42 • Colonial History 

Following the above letter in "Dickerman Ancestn." the editor savs : "Dr. 
Samuel Bradley studied medicine and was a practicing physician at Greece, X. Y. 
He was a man of scientific and literary tastes and widely known for his attain- 
ments." 

Xow living ( 1903 ) in the inunediate vicinity of the families mentioned in 
the foregoing letter, occupying the home of her father, Jotham liradlev, lives 
Mrs. Adaline Bradley Peck, widow of Burton Peck. Her age is seventv-eight 
years, with a remarkably well-stored memory of events which transpired in earlier 
days. She relates to me that her husband's grandmother was Mrs. Lois Peck, 
who died in 1852 at the age of one hundred years and eigh.t months. This gives 
her birth as 1752, which was soon after there is any record of the first settler in 
Mount Carmel, and five years before the Society received a colonial charter and 
name. Mrs. Adaline Bradley Peck thus brings two persons' lives to bridge the 
wiiole tmie of the settlement of Mount Carmel, more than one hundred and fiftv 
years. She relates how Mrs. Lois Peck and her husband, Amos Peck, rode everv 
Sunday on horseback to church in Xew Haven, attending "Xorth," or now, the 
LTnited Church. In those days she picked whortle. or huckleberries, on the 
Green, where the bushes grew on their native heath. Amos and Lois Peck often 
took their children with them on a pillion. 

My above mentioned informant also relates that Sevmour Bradlev carried 
on the distilling of spirits at the now ruined mill-site near there, and that after his 
decease his widow conducted the business man\- years. She is still remembered 
as "Aunt Livy" (Olive). These events were fully seveiUy years ago. 

Among ancient documents in the possession of Mrs. Adaline Bradlev Peck 
is the following deed executed in the first year of the reign of George the Third, 
and it must therefore be one of the earliest records of transfers of land in the 
colonial days of the Parish of Mount Carmel, which was then in the fourth year 
of its existence : 

"To all People to wlmni these Presents shall come. GREETING: 

"KNOW YE, That I, Jonathan Dickerman, of New-Haven, in the Connty of 
New-Haven, in the Coh)ny of Connecticut. For the Consideration of Twelve Shillings 
Lawfull money, received to my full Satisfaction of Amos Bradley and Mary Dickerman 
of said New-Haven, do give, grant, bargain, sell, and confirm unto the said Amos 
Bradley and Alary Dickerman. — one certain small piece of Eand in Mount Carmel in 
T. New Haven, being 42 feet North and South & 12 feet east and west, Bounded east 
on highway. South on Land of the heirs of Sam'l Bellamy Dec'd, North and West on 
my land. 

"To Have and to Hold the above granted and bargained Premises, with the Appur- 
tenances thereof, unto them the said Grantees, their Heirs and Assigns, for ever, to 
their own proper Use and Behoof. And Also, I. the said Jonathan Dickerman, do. 
fi>r mj'self, my Heirs, Executors and .Administrators, covenant with the said Grantees. 
their Heirs, and Assigns: that at and until the Ensealing of these Presents I am well 



The Parish ok Mount Carmel. 43 

seized of the Premises, as a good indefeasible Estate in Fee-simple; and have good 
right to bargain and sell the same, in Manner and Form as is above written; and that 
the same is free of all Encumbrances whatsoever. AND FURTHERINIORE, I the said 
Jonathan Dickerman do, by these Presents, Bind myself & Heirs for ever, to warrant 
and defend the above granted and bargained Premises, the said Grantees, their Heirs 
and Assigns, against all Claims and Demands whatsoever. IN WITNESS whereof, 
1 have hereunto set my Hand and Seal, the 26 Day of October in the first Year of 
the Reign of our Sovereign Lord GEORGE the Third of Great-Britain, &c. King: 
Annoque D..mini. 1761. JONATHAN DICKERMAN. 

"Signed, sealed and delivered in Presence of Phinehas Strong, Sam'l Bishop, Jun'r. 

"New-Haven County, ss. New Haven, Oct. 27th, 1761. 

"Personally appeared Jonathan Dickerman. Signer and Sealer of the foregoing 
Instrument, and acknowledged the same to be his free Act and Deed, before me 

"DAN'L LYMAN. Justice of Peace." 

Among- a large lot of land deeds and other papers preserved by Mrs. A. 
Bradlev Peck are deeds of land to her grandfather, Amos Bradley, in 1733. from 
the owners of land who had received their titles in the "original distribution" or 
"layout as it appears on record." It is worthy of note here that these tracts of 
land were bought from the original grantees in small parcels, not often exceednig 
twenty acres and frequently much less. The purpose in the original distribution 
of the colony appears in giving many persons small shares. The large holdings 
acquired by Amos Bradley and others of that day are shown by the records to 
have been acquired by purchase. These early "deeds" also refer to the "Fifth 
Division," the lands of the colony having been distributed as ordered by the 
"General Court" after having been dul}- and accurately stirveyed up to the ninth 
and last Division in or about 1765. 



STATKMEXT BY JEROME L. DICKERMAN. 

THE house and farm occupied by the late Lambert Dickerman and his 
father. Levi Dickerman, was earlier the farm of Deacon Daniel Brad- 
ley. His first house was some distance to the rear of the present home, and 
the first blazed path on the trees passed the original house. The layout for the 
colonial six-rod highway to the Cheshire line followed this blazed path and 
continued on through a now abandoned highway, passing the home of Thomas 
Hull one-half mile east of the layout of the Cheshire turnpike. David Bradley, 
the "Preacher," was born and reared on this early home of Deacon Daniel, and 
went from thence to his new home built by his father, Aaron Bradley, on the 
turnpike road in 1815. This house is still one of the best preserved on the 
road, and was latel}- in possession of, and sold by, Charles Allen. 



44 



Colonial History 



THE CHATTEKTON FAMILY. 



'( )L'XT Carmel has a section embracing scarcely more than a school district, 
known as West Woods, a term once held as a reproach on that landscape 
may yet become its chief charm. When the approach was made only on horse- 
back over the "Steps," near the mill and trading post, young" Dunbar, from 
New Haven, penetrated this remote part of the colony and staked his claim. 
That he came in advance of surveyors is in evidence, and that nothing apparentlv 
hindered his choice. The running brook, always first sought, here spread through 
a fertile valley surrounded by mountains. Fruitful peach orchards and straw- 
berries now growing there show the location well chosen, but many generations 
by families of different names have occupied it since the days of Dunbar. His 
family is lost ; none here bear that name. 

Well preserved is the Chatterton home, — a name once of fame in Mount 
Carmel, long since ceased. Chatterton owned the grist mill at the "Steps." 
The last Chatterton remembered was Deborah, who married Preston, but long 
lived a widow. Eccentric, she lived alone, mowed her grass, and it was said if 
wet days interfered in drying ha\ , she carried it into the house to drv before the 
kitchen fire. Frank Warner succeeds to ownershii^ and well preserves the house 




HOML.STEAD OF DLliOKAH CHATTERTON I'RESTON. 

Fholographcd by R. E. Q-Bricn. Built in about 1 775. 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 



45 




Fhotographcd by R- E. O'Brien. CHATTERTON HOMESTEAD. 



buill more than one hundred and twenty-five years ag-Q. One-fourth of a mile 
west of the home of Frank Warner, now stands the house formerly the home 
of Horace Doolittle, at present owned b>- John Rourke, but unoccupied. The 
place is said to have been built b>- the Chatterton family, and is one hundred 
and forty-five years old. A characteristic feature of age is the stone topped 
chimney and small window panes. 

The charm of woodlands is best appreciated after the home lover, who is 
born and reared among trees, lives for a period on a treeless waste, where the 
far awav sky dips to meet the soil. Xothing in the interval catches the eye 
save perhaps a settler's cabin, or, if a railroad has been built, the smoke of a 
passing train crawls across the prairie. A single summer sufficed the youthful 
desire'to "go west." By the return to New England, woods have become a 
perpetual charm. 



46 



Colonial History 



THK FECK FAMILY. 

THE following is contributed by ^Nlrs. Alice M. Peck, the wife of Friend Joseph 
I'eck. Mrs. Peck is a graduate of the Emma Willard Seminary in Troy, 

X. V. 

"The house now owned and occupied by Friend Joseph Peck was built in 
the A-ear 1794 bv Jose])h Peck, who was grandfather of the present owner. Joseph 
Peck was tlie son of .\mos Peck, who was one of the founders of the Xorth 
Church in Xew Haven. Later, he moved to Mount Carmel and was one of the 
first deacons in the Mount Carmel Congregational Church, holding that office 
from 1768 to 1783. Amos Peck was the grandson of Henry l^'ck, who settled in 
Xew Haven in- iC>38. He emigrated to this country with (iovernor Eaton and 
Reverend John Davenport in the ship Hector in 1637. 

"The farm now owned h\ Friend J. Peck has been in the Peck famil\- (jne 
hundred and fifty \ears, descending from father to son. The house occupied by 
Amos Peck, and later by Joseph Peck, was on the opposite side of the street, 
and a few rods north of the present (Kvelling. The nails used in building this 
house were all made by Joseph Peck." 

This statement, brief though it is, conveys possibilities of long lives spent 
here in devotion to famih- trusts. The man who hammered out nails on his anvil 




HOME OF FRIEND JOSEPH PECK. 

Built in 1794. 



The Parish of ^Mount Carmel. 



47 



r 1 \ ,.^ PaM- needles for his wife with which to 
already .s:iven. 




Plwtograrlicd by H. B. IVclclt. 



HEXKV I'ECK HOUSE. 



The Henrv Peck liome in 1826 was previously owned by Joseph Ho„sh an, 
the pxmises occupied for a tannery. The barn was ren,ode ed froni th 
tannerv and used for a worksl,op to make and repair shoes Ives Andrews 
here karned the trade fron, Henry Peck, and with .Albert H,.chcocd< n,a.le ntore 
than seven hundred pair of shoes in one year. Th,s was ^f2'^, Custotn 
Henrv Peck had the reputation of beutg first-class wuh tlu- r.fle. Custo.rr 
then patronized turkev shoots. With his twe„t;-poun<l nfle Henr>- Peck was 
t^ 'o wn is birds' at forty rods. The writer has often handle.l the gun, 
,V1 tnttil recent date was in possession of the fantily. The house now stan.ls 
The same in outline as when built, and has been in cout.nned occupation more 
than one hundred years. It is now owned by Thomas Bristol. 



48 



C()L()XI.\[. fllSTORV 



HISTORICAL XOTLS 



Furnished by Mks. Willard Matthews. 



THE Miller homestead, which has l)een standing- for more than a hundred 
years, lias heen in possession of the family for the past fifty-tive _\ear.s. 
The house was built on land now the i^ed <jf the old Canal, and occupied 
a site beautiful m situation, sheltered from north and west winds bv the over- 
hanging cliff forming- the historic "Steps." Two more houses were built in the 
same location, but it is believed the Miller homestead was first built — soon after, 
r during, the war of the Revolution. Its history is older than the past century, 



o 



Xorth of it was built a house b}- Orrin Todd, and south a house now the home 
of Harmon Wakefield. The latter house was moved to its present site and 
rebuilt in its present form by lUitler Sackett. He also owned the Miller home 
and by him it was sold to Rev. Stephen Hubbell in 1834, in whose possession it 
remained as a parsonage until its purchase by Chauncev Miller in 1848. 




THE Mir.LER HO^rF.STEAD. 

Photographed by Mrs. Willard Maflhcws. 



The Parish of AIol'xt Carmel. 



49 



Afr. Afiller, who was formerly a resident of Woodbridge, Conn., brouo-ht 
from there (and which is stih in the cellar of the home as a relic) a pork barrel 
made by Earl Sperry to hold the family supply of home made pork. It was 
the custom of Chauncey Miller tn raise the largest hog- in town, often tipping 
the scale at over six hundred pounds. Mr. Miller had the record of being the 
first man who ground carriage springs in the factory of Charles Brockett, which, 
it is thought, may have been the oldest industrv of the kind in America. 




A MOUNT OARMEL SCENE. 



A Sleeping Giant ! lying there in state. 
His head is pillowed on a rnnning stream. 

Which laves his temple <. while night's shadow> wait, 
Bnt noon still finds him in his ciniet dream. 




Photognithcd hy H. B. Welch. 



.TARED n'ES PLACE. 
Now owned by Burton T. Jones. 



[One of the latest descendants of this family, Chauncey Ives, son of 
Jared. died in New York City in igoi. shortly after his return from Italy, 
where he had spent a long life devoted to the art of sculpture.] 




Photograplicd by H. B. Welch. 



I'.ASSETT IIOM KSTKAD. 



[Home of Hezekiah Bassett, 1786. A family distinguished in English 
history and in the early history of New Haven Colony. Descended from 
William Bassett. 1649. See Hamden Centenary History.] 



52 Colonial History 



MUNSOiX AND KIMBKRLY FAMlLIEvS. 

AMOXG the (lini traditions of Colonial life in !\Iount Carmel gieanis that 
of a slave owner, Alunson. His ]:ilantation was extensive. It appears 
that one or more grist mills yielded to him their revennes, and he exported 
to the West Indies their products of home-made gin and kiln-dried corn 
meal. To show the extent of his business, it is said that a single purchase of 
seven thousand bushels of grain was entered in his books, and also a record of 
sales of his slaves. Unfortiuiatelv these books have disappeared. It is said 
that they were in an old tlesk which was sold at auction, and the old mansion 
has been destroyed. 

This business was not conducted wholly by one individual, there being 
apparently a partner by the name of Chapman who dwelt in the city. 

It is possible that the first mill-dam and grist mill at the "Steps" was built 
by this firm. It has been impossible thus far, to discover who actually built 
the first dam here ; by whom the construction work was done remains to be 
unraveled by future historians in search of antiquarian lore. The name of 
Jacob Hotchkiss appears in the I'roprietors' Records as a lessee of lands in 
this vicinity in 1733, but nothing is said there about the mill. Later, Chatterton, 
Hunt and Wyles each individuallx came into possession of the grist mill at the 
Steps before it was owned by Roderick Kimberly, but none of these was the 
builder of the first dam. Thus easih- are the original settlers lost sight of. 

The Fulling Mill was run by Ezra Kimberly, who afterward went to Spring- 
field ; later, George Kimberl}- ran the mill. 

The Kimberly family has filled a prominent place in Mount Carmel as 
proprietors of grist mill and grocery store from 1840 to 1890. Business with 
them was a financial success and the accunnilated earnings accrued to a small 
fortune in their day. Burton l\imberl_\- was an early pioneer in the gold fields 
of California. During his life in Mount Carmel, in company with his father, 
Roderick, and brother Hobart, they bought a cargo of coarse salt shipped to 
New Haven and thence freighted by steam road to their grist mill, where thev 
ground it and, put in small bags for family use, reshipped it to the citv. Trade 
at their store (now the ]\It. Carmel Centre post office) was always prosperous. 
The last of their line, Hobart, left an estate of considerable value which was 
adjudged by Probate Court should be divided among thirty-three heirs. 

A large collection of manuscript was found among their assets, and from 
this the facts for the following curious letter written bv a member of the familv : 



The Parish of AIount Carmel. 53 



New Haven, Conn., 

Aug. 2, 1775- 



- live ei.„. ...le. • .><..« ^^^^T.fl^-^r'lir.hf p" e' ..b.gaO. ™o.„« 

h„rd so « to have more t,me to -";"'';;' „^„ ,„, „,, ,,ready spm, and woven 
„n-,f,y body and it wonld do yon good to « '' ^ 'J' " '^'j,,^ ,,,j j„, fi„„,,ed weaving 

„„d „as .a,d away -''■ '»«-^^;:;;'„f ,7L:^^'e Pr d nee =:,«, so she had ,-efnsed to 
a p.eee and wanted to hn.sh bleach ng >< b" p,,j,^, 

,„ ,„ the greatest i"";'^^'-';-!:'",^;^'^ e"tiier sta.e than expected, eo.ning 

Now. as ,t happened. Pr, denee » '^ > ^^^ ^„ „,„, „( the yonng 

jnst the day before the p,e„K. At "'■•'; [ ;,„; clamming, the pienie 

people who seldom n,et, and have ..uh go tmte, » ^,^^„,^, A|,ig„, 

|„„,er, and all. that both girls wanted to go. to, no txa P 

r"-;' "-: ""„" 'Bt:;^;l"'Th:':.™,';rnrLrall''mad:'th' -plans a,,d as the pienic 

for them to go. But how. i ne ^ . ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ changes. 

"''"k'ndttlf «g:d":::d'"n^:iry:n «°- we U. do, Pmdence. Consn, David 
""""''vV>^r.:aid"^nrct-''wl!y"no:r''For .Abigail's .ones showed that, in spite of 

her statement, she felt sotne doubt upon th^ s"'>J^<-'; ...^^^ ,„ , , „,actical 

-Beeause. he is so ,neer t e g.rls wont go -' " ' ";^^,, really mean to me. 

jokes and don't care how rough they are. Stdl he has neve, 

and if you are with me I don't believe ^' ■^'^"'^^^'^ ,,,„^ „„, p„™,sed a spice 

Now Prudence, in sp.te '''J- ■;;■;■-,; ::,,!''- cLTe^UtctaTtee. and it was planned 

of adventure, so she speedtly overcame -^O'^'] _ 

;:::\-^':.,d'i;:r«::o-i'\hSfbet,d-tr ::lTtl^:^ ciien because „» one 

elTe was obtainable, and therefore he ehenshed -- ^ ..mcnt^_ _^^_^^ ^_. 

When he called for them on p,cn,c day. h,. f'^'"-"" springless wagon, 

,„s emotions. He had two good horses h-- -^ ' P ° J „ gon box The three 
and in lieu of a seat a board was '-<• a--s « - - - ^,^'^ ,\,^^,.f „„, „„ .,„i,„.o„.n 
had a <|n,e. time nnt.l. hav.ng passed thro, gh he u.y y ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^_^^ ,^_^ 

road.> George street being the boundary °'/'" ";" J™'^ „p;„ fields of corn ridges, 
thro' country, and .he ^'^ _ ;-^;:::',;; ^^'I'^'eam. tLugh he strove to make 
:?;;p:::^;:r,:l^■r;s:?;en.^rere^',h:,r ow,, accord a„d .hat they were for a tew 

™"r.-HSr'o:er the ^^.es the b^rd - ,^^---,- ^ ^dl^-'^h^n 

'Now Congress Ave. 



54 Colonial Historv 

hardly in suitable gala attire. However, they were forced to make the best of a bad 
matter, and managed to have a pretty good time after they reached Oyster Point. The 
day there did not improve the appearance of their gowns, and when they started for 
home the girls begged David ti> drive around rather than through the center of the 
town. 

David promised to please, and assured them he was sorry they had had such bad 
luck that day. He drove around the town to the small village of Hotchkissville.' then 
deliberately turned down the wide road' tiiat leads back to town. Now. David knew 
most of the residents here, so met many of his acquaintances and stopped to chat 
with each one, taking pains always to explain that the girls were anxious to not meet 
niany persons because of their bedraggled appearance. 

To say that the girls chafed under this treatment wr)uld be to put it mildh', but 
being convinced that remonstrance would be unavailing, kept silence. At length they 
were once more on the Farmington road and again in the country', to the relief of the 
girls. 

Perhaps you will remember that about half way out from the city is a tavern 
which all our people patronize pretty well when driving over the roads. Here David 
bethought himself to stop and procure a refreshing draught, for the many times 
recounting of the incidents of the day had parched his throat. He carefully tied his 
horses (for David was wary), and entered the house of refreshment. 

After his departure. Prudence broke the long silence by exclaiming, "Now. Abigail, 
we're rid of him, we'll let him stay here or get home as best he can." 

"But suppose he sees us start off," remonstrated Abigail. 

"Oh. if he once gets to talking and drinking in there, he'll not notice what we do." 

Alas! for their plan. Prudence imderstood men in general better than she did this 
particular individual. 

Abigail untied the team and they started. l)Ut David was drinking with one eye out 
of the window and saw the action. Hastih' dropping the half drained glass, he gave 
chase and being quick of foot came alongside the horses before they were fairly in 
motion. With a bound, he landed on the back of one of the horses and taking off his 
hat he waved it w'ildly in the air and cheered lustily. 

H the girls had been chagrined before, now their mortification knew no bounds. 
Abigail buried her face in her hands and wept, while Prudence, sitting painfull}' erect, 
meditated all manner of vengeance upon David. 

Thus they were forced to finish the ride home. David urging the team with a 
whoop and cheer whenever there was a chance of their being seen or heard. Upon 
reaching home, and before they could get a chance to speak, he said gravely, "Now, 
girls, I've taken you this time, but you needn't ever ask me to go anywhere with you 
again." 

This has taken so much space in the telling, that I must shorten the rest of my 
communication. 

Your most affectionate cousin, 

MARY ANN. 

'Now Westville. 
"Now Whallev Ave. 




Photographed by B. H. Schcnck. jhe JESSE TTTTLE I'LACE. 



[This place, long the home of Emily Tattle Cook, recently deceased, 
was purchased from the Indians and has always since been in the Tuttle 
family. On these grounds was held the first Tuttle picnic, or re-union 
in the United States.] 



56 Colonial History 



THE TUTTLE FAMILY. 

The f(>llr)\ving acciumt of Ambrose Tiittle, witl: extracts from records left by him, 
is contributed by his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Katherine Bassett, who has in her 
possession man}' interesting documents relating to that period. 

A]vl( )X( i the very earliest families to settle in Mount Carmel, we find the name 
of Tuttle. This branch, like the other members of the same family in the 
L'nitetl States, are descendants of the brothers John and William Tnttle, who came 
to this country in the vessel "The Planter" in 1635. The ancestral line of the 
family has been traced to Alfred the Great and Charlemaone. William Tuttle 
figured in court as an advocate during his early residence in this country, and 
many of his posterity have followed legal practice as a profession. 

Earl}- in the eighteenth century we find reeords of the residence in Mount 
Carmel of Nathaniel Tuttle, who was born in 17 14, and it is stated that he had 
eight children born in Mount Carmel, — the first, Uri, in 1738; Nathaniel (third), 
in 1742, and the youngest, Jesse, in 1759. This Jesse Tuttle lived north of 
the mountain, in a house not now standing, near the present farms known as 
those of Horace and Henry Tuttle, and lie died at the age of ninety years. His 
three sons, Ambrose, Leverett and Jesse, all settled in Mount Carmel and were 
pronnnent in tovn aitairs. The story is told that Leverett was of the same 
political affiliations as his father, but that Ambrose was of the opposite party, 
so that when weighing them in the balance for a certain town office, the father 
remarked that "both of "em are pretty smart men. but Leverett is a Iceflc the best 
qualified." Leverett was representative to the Connecticut legislature and died 
at the age of ninety-one, then the oldest man in Mount Carmel. His children, 
Horace, Lewis, Julia, Henry and Dennis, are now of the passing generation, 
and of Leverett's descendants there are four practitioners of the law. and also 
among the children of Jesse, who were John, Luc\'. Charles, Dwight and ( irove, 
Dwight was graduated from the Yale Law School and admitted to practice in 1867. 

(3f the oldest brother, Ambrose, born September 17. 1784, much might be 
said. We give in this volume pictures of himself and of the house wdiich he 
built in 1829, known in recent years as the home of Deacon George H. Allen. 
His tax list for 1856 shows he possessed two hundred and fifty-two acres of 
land. He married Mary Allen, who was born ( )ctober 4th, 1784, and they had 
a number of children, whom, as they formed families who have continued to be 
well known in the town, it may be of interest to enumerate. 

Sylvia, born Jan. 2, 1S04. married Julius Tnttle January 24. 1825. 
Henrietta, born Jan. 4, 1806. married Jared Dickerman. died April 17. 185 L 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 57 

Allen bom Feb 17, iSo8. married Caroline Tuttlc November 29, 1830. 

Am"s. b;::^ May k .8.0. married Harr.e. Ba.«.. of New Haven. Feb. ... ,840. 

Mary, born Sept. 28. 1816. married Medad Bassett Oct. 1.5. .84.. 

Ambrose Ttittk «a. Sheriff or Constable of the Town of Hamden Iron, 

,806 to I8C9, shortly after his nrajority. He was assessor of the town taxes an 1 

vt selectman as early as ,819. Antbrose Tnttle was Captam of Seventh Con - 

;:y"of the Second Regiment Militia in the War of -8-. - -other Uve 

beincr Lieutenant. Men were detaile.l iron, tins company for the coast defense 

o New London. Groton and other places. The tnnster, which ,s sttll ,n perfect 

preseryation. inclndes man; well-known Monnt Carmel names, snch as 

„ , ^ Russel Ives, 

Andrew Goodyear, ^ 

Seymour D.ckerman, Benjamin Peck, 

Whitney D.ckermnn. ^^^^^^^^^ H.tchock. 

Aaron Cbatterton. ^^^^^ Doolittle. 

Josiah Todd, ^^^^^^^^^^ Sanford, 

■ Elam Warner, ^^^^ Kmiberly, 

Hezekiah Brockett, ^^^^^.^^ ^^^^^^^^ 

^^^y '^^!"'^' Austm Munsnn. 

Amos Dickerman, 

""' rmtttTaye been a rtgid disciphnarian. as we f^nd many papers asking 
relief front fines imposed by him for neglect of mthtary ,ln,y. 

He was Justice of the Peace from 1830 to 1840, or longer. \ book entitled 

"The Civil and Executive Officer's .Assistant. 

With the powers and duty of Justices of the Peace 

as contained in the laws of the State of Connecticut. 

Bv John Goodrich. Esq. 

1798.- 

seems to liave constituted his law library. .\s Justice of the Peace he tried many 
Ts and transacted a large amount of town business, ^ha. ^e^ -s --s«d 
in school matters is evidenced by the fact that he was made Clerk of e Motm 
Carmel Societv- in 1819. and among his papers are records of North SI 00 
D dc ;? Mount Carmel School Society, in pamphlet forin careftiUy stnched 
I^gllhtr and dating from ,8,9 .0 .842, From this pamphlet the following „ 

•'^t . meeting of the inhabitants of North School District in Mt. Carmel School 
SocietT, SeXbe'r .. 18x9. it was voted to move the school-house from where . no. 

stands, to the brow of the hill — Thnrsdav evening at Sun one hour high 

•■Voted to adjourn th.s meetn.g to next ^ 1--^^^^^^ ^^^^l ^^^TTLE. Clerk." 
in the afternoon. 




Prom an old dagiicrrcotytc- 



ty^^J^t^i. (/;r^ 4^'^'^"* 







Pliotografhcd by B. H. Schcuck. lEN'ERETT TUTTLE HOMESTEAD. 




Photographed by H. B. Welch. BUILT BY AMBROSE TUTTLE. 



6o Colonial History 

And the following extract from the same book shows him to have been still 
clerk twenty-three years later when at a meeting of the Xorth School District 
held JNIarch 31, 1842. at which Ambrose Tuttle was Clerk and Jotham Bradley 
Committee, it was voted "that the Committee be authorized to hire Julia Tuttle 
to keep the school if she can be obtained for a sum not exceeding two dollars 
and fifty cents per week." At a subsequent meeting it was voted "that the 
Committee be directed to set up school on the best conditions he can," and that 
"the board be $1.50 per week." 

Among other papers in his desk we find the following memorandum of 
expenses dated December, 1834. in a case of a man who beat his wife: 

For travel to make arrest. .3 miles $ .15 

For arrest .15 

For travel with i)ri>((ner to court, 3 miles .75 

For ser^•illg 7 summons tor witnesses bj^ reading .63 

For travel to gaol with prisoner, 10 miles 2.50 

$4.63 
Costs for witnesses, &c $71/ 

> Total , $11.70 

The list of charges in settlement of Estate of Joseph Johnson shows an 
item for Doctor's attendance of thirt\-nine visits at fift}' cents a visit, with 
credit of white cloth at $1.00 a yard. Also a charge for a whitewood cofifin 
$4.00, against which a credit is made of 42 cents for the lining. 

Among a large number of old deeds there is found a deed of Samuel Atwater, 
Jr., and Ruth Atv.ater to Xathan Ailing, dated Januar}- 29, 1787. 

A Bible owned by him, printed in 181 1, is in perfect preservation; also, a 
Columbian Register dated March 15, 1828. 

Ambrose Tuttle united with the Congregational Church in 1832, his wife 
having become a member in 181 5. There are papers concerning the church of 
Mount Carmel, embracing forty-six persons which gathered and organized the 
26th of January, 1764. In 1824 he was Treasurer of the Church Society and 
in 1840 one of the building committee. On a paper dated September 21, 1839. 
we find his name with others who subscribed money for the purchase of a bell 
for the church. In one of his annual accounts as treasurer of the church we find 
this item : 

"Cash for wood and candles for singing $ i.io" 

also — 

"Ecc. Society of Mt. Carmel, to Hobart Ives Dr. 
"For rci^airs on Bass Viol and strings for 2 yrs $ 1.50" 



The Parish of ^Iount Carmel. 



6i 



Reverend S. E. Dwight seems to have received $8.00 per "Lord's Day" in 
1836 for his services as pastor. 

After a long hfe filled with many duties both public and private, Ambrose 
Tuttle died at the age of eighty-one April 26th, 1865. That he was well qualified 
to serve his town in a clerical capacity, is attested by the manner in which he kept 
his papers, which have all been carefully preserved in his own desk, and which 
are now in the possession of the family of the late Amos A. Tuttle. Among 
these papers are the many interesting documents already (juoted from, and 
among others is a list of books in the Union Library. These books were bought 
by subscriptions given by four or more families of Bradley and Tuttle prior to, 
or near, 1800, and still are preserved in the former home of Horace Bradlev, 
now that of his granddaughter, Airs. Cornelia Dudley. Good taste is shown 
in the selection, and as they give an idea of the intellectual status at that time. 



the list is here given in full. 

Volumes. 

Rollins Ancient History 10 

Modern Voyages & Travels 6 

Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, 2 

Spectator 8 

Gregory's History Churcli 2 

I 

2 

2 

2 

I 

I 

I 

2 

I 

2 



Morse's Geography . 
Ramsay's History . . . 
Caroline of Litchfield 

Evelina 

Boles Voyages 

Carver's Travels . . . . 
Elegant Extracts . . . . 

Blair's Sermons 

Emma Corbett 

Sermons 



Volumes. 

Telemachus 

Vicar of Wakefield 

Guy's Sermons 

Watt's Lyric Poems 

James Lambert 

Trumbull's History of Connecticut .... 

Goldsmith's History of England 

Beauties of Nature 

Female American 

Citizen of the World 

Bishop Porteous Lectures 

Life of Washington 

Bishop Porteous Sermons 

Fowler's Exposition of the Prayer 

Book 

Shades of Plato 



62 Colonial History 



PIONEERS Ii\ MINNESOTA. 

P ANGER in pioneer life was exemplified in travel when La Crosse was 
the north terminal of railroad travel on the Mississippi River. Icebound 
and covered with snow, teamsters made it their hig^hwav for freisrhtine further 
north. Unmindful of thin ice covered with snow\ a driver walking behind his 
team, without warning they plunged through the ice and, quickly swept away by 
the current, disappeared. The driver, with miraculous escape from death, plodded 
ou to St. Paul, and entering the "Merchants' Hotel" wrapped in fur coat and 
carrying his driving whip, asked for accommodation. "Certainlv," sa\s the oblig- 
inging landlord. "Have your team cared for?" "My team is cared for in the 
Mississippi," was the laconic response. 

The city of Minneapolis had then a population of eight thousand, and twelve 
thousand more were in St. Paul when Jerome Tuttle, now a resident of Mount 
Carmel, \\ ended his wav from thence to look for a home. Purchasinp- an ox 
team for two hundred dollars, he pushed his way to St. Cloud and from thence 
to Painsville, where the first settler, Pavne. gave name to the town. Extending 
his search for miles. Long Lake gave the ideal sought in a prairie home. A 
clear sheet of water with sandy shore — prairie on the one side and heavv 
timber opposite — gave to Mr. Tuttle the opportunity sought of which he was 
not slow to take avail. Happiness and content hovered there during the vears 
following, until the uprising of the Sioux. Indians roved the land at will. 
The first question often asked of the wife by her husband and father on a return 
from a trip to town, was, "Have you seen any Indians?" Sometimes a "No" 
was given, but often the reply was, "Many of them have been here begging for 
something to eat." The custom in this home was, not to admit Indians inside 
the house wdien the husband was away, but to pass whatever was given through 
the door. 

Mr. Tuttle relates that after selection of his claim, he slid off his wagon 
box and in that formed a camp for wife and children, while he returned to St. 
Cloud with his oxen for lumber to build his house. The trip of fortv miles 
occupied three to four days, and was frequently made leaving the familv alone 
on the prairie. Characteristic of Indian traits is an incident, not true of this 
family, but which occurred in some other home. An Indian entered the home 
where were present only the wife and child. "Give me the pappoose, I give you 
horse," says the Indian. The mother reflects on the situation, and not wishing 
to give offense, says, "No. I can't give pappoose for horse, — give pappoose for 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 63 

boat." "Ugh," says Indian, "too much work to make boat, — me steal horse,'' 
who then departs in good humor at his display of Indian wit. 

Mr. Tuttle also relates as illustrative of the silent ways of Indians displayed, 
that they often appeared in the field without their approach having- been noticed, 
and invariably begged for tobacco, not satisfied with denial until they felt his 
pockets to see if a crumb of the coveted morsel remained. 

The sight of, and the smell emanating from, an approaching tribe, invariably 
caused a stampede of cattle, and when meeting them on trail chaining his oxen 
to a tree became necessary to prevent them from turning to flee in an opposite 
direction. Of this peculiar circumstance I have questioned Mr. Tuttle closely, 
and he affirms that invariably cattle detected an offensive odor from the approach 
of Indians and from an Indian trail such as were then common where the tribes 
from the Red River of the north descended to St. Paul with wood carts, each 
drawn by a single bullock laden with furs. One or two hundred Indians were 
often encountered on trail, in warm weather without clothing except the waist, 
the chieftains decorated in their hair with feathers to denote the number of scalps 
taken. They carried bow and arrow with stone hatchets, but fire-arms were not 
in general use by them previous to the uprising. Conducive to this uprising 
was the withdrawal of troops hitherto stationed in that region, as the government 
injudiciously thought they could be better employed in the south. Many of the 
Sioux captured were in possession of new rifles and ammunition, and it became 
a much mooted question where they were obtained. Mr. Tuttle describes an 
affecting scene of his little girl of seven years, who was offered a home in 
Painsville, where she could attend school, and on the first alarm of Indians, not 
knowing how it might fare with her father and mother seven miles out on the 
prairie, she watched anxiously for their appearance, and on their approach in the 
ox w^agon ran joyfully to meet them. 

Indolence of Indian life was shown in the squaw drawing a deer fastened 
on two poles, one end resting on the ground, the other fastened to the waist, 
while two pappooses were strapped on her back. The feeling of repugnance 
to labor and reluctance to relieve woman of work, caused an Indian to shoot a 
white man for no other reason than that at the time he was carrvinsr his child 
in his arms while his wife walked beside him. The Indian was apprehended 
and executed. 

Mr. Tuttle's residence on the frontier commenced in 1856, and six vears 
were passed in acquiring comforts for his family. He lived seven miles from 
a neighbor, fifteen miles from post-ofiice, and with his ox team drove forty miles 
to mill. He had erected a log house and enjoyed the comforts of pioneer life, 
when one day while making hav, he saw a man, without a previous note of 
warning, running to meet him, worn by fatigue. Mr. Tuttle hastened to meet 



64 Colonial History 

the runner to learn his news. "Run for your Hves !" was all he could articulate, 
and then ran hack with all possible speed. His flight had been from Painsville, 
situate on north fork of Crow River, tributary to the Mississippi River. The 
mail carrier to Painsville had met death at hands of Sioux. Thus news had 
come of Indians close at hand. Mr. Tuttle's ox team and wagon were ready 
to receive a load of hay. Hastily starting his team, Mr. Tuttle caught up two 
families near, and with his own family, he thrust them all on his hay wagon and 
started a race for life. Goaded by the hay fork, the oxen took a rapid gait. 
His buildings were burned by Sioux shortly after he left them. Reaching 
Painsville, all the families there hastened their departure. The following morn- 
ing saw the town in flames. A dozen families here saved their lives by their 
rapid flight, which continued to St. Cloud and from thence to St. Paul — a 
running flight of near two hundred miles. Here thev were safe, but sullered a 
loss of their accumulated labor of six years — fourteen cattle and buildings. 
One thousand settlers met death at the hands of Sioux. General Sibley, in 
command of United States troops, checked the on-rush of Indians and took more 
than one thousand captive. Thirty-nine captives were condemned to die and 
were executed at Mankato. Scenes of cruelty to the settlers were witnessed too 
horrible for record. The bodies of the thirty-nine captives executed were not 
suffered to remain interred in the ground, but were hastily disinterred and sent 
to medical schools by agents assembled there to secure Indians. A settler accom- 
panied by a boy, hunted down and shot "Little Crow," a big chief of the Sioux, 
to secui-e a reward of two thousand dollars. 

The families from Mount Carmel who had settled thirty miles south of 
Mankato, forsook their homes in hasty flight, but after a prolonged absence of 
six weeks, returned to find that the Sioux had not penetrated the south tier of 
counties. Although the Sioux had been frequent visitors among these settlers 
previous to the uprising, they forever after were an enemy not be tolerated within 
the settled counties of the state. 



The Parish of AIolxt Carmel. 65 



THE TODD FAMILY. 

WHILE the name of Dickernian appears as locating ten or more early homes 
i)n the main street in Mount Carmel, and nearly every one disseminated a 
nimitrous family, the name of Dickernian tloes not appear among the early settlers 
of North Haven, and only three families of that name have since located in that 
town. 

The name of Todd appears as hcing largely represented in North Haven. 
Ithamar Todd may have descended from a North Haven family. His name 
appears as the owner of a farm, Iving on the south side of the Blue Hills, and 
reaching across the valley at the foot of the mountain. It is believed his house 
was built near a spring, fifty rods south of the house built by Simeon Todd, his 
grandson, which still stands on the top of the hill. The old house was moved 
to a location opposite to the new house, and used for a cider mill. It was standing 
within the memorv of the writer and was noted for the heavy beams and timbers 
used in its construction. Job Todd, a son of Ithamar, built a house and lived 
where, later, a vineyard was planted and the foundation stones of the house 
were removed. 

The descendants of Simeon Todd held a reunion on the 28th of March. 1900, at 
tlie invitation of Reverend William E. Todd, a grandson, who was then sojourning for 
a time in Mount Carmel, the home of his ancestors. On this occasion the following 
paper was read: 

"Blessings brighten as the} take their flight" — so the younger generation, 
with much research and trouble, probe among records and revive old traditions 
to find the missing links which would easily have made a perfect chain if a little 
writing and preservation had been given attention in due time. It seems somewhat 
contradictory that those people who do things worth recording, do the least to 
perpetuate their acts by writing ; thus, the ancestors of those whom we com- 
memorate were mighty men of valor who were held in high estimation by their 
neighbors and fellow citizens, while we of the present day write more than we 
act, and perhaps make our greatest glory in extolling those from whom we are 
descended. Can we expect our children hereafter will do the like for us? 

When we think of Simeon Todd, the father of William Todd, and behold 
him at the forge making his ox shoes and horse shoes and the nails to fasten them, 
which are now all made bv machine work; then, burning his own charcoal in 
the dark forest on the top of Carmel, and repelling the bears by fire brands from 
the burning pit; and again, hauling timber and framing it — not in the balloon 
fashion of the present day, but b> the old scribe rule ; building his own buildings 
and those of his neighbors, and in the meantime working his farm to support 
his family, whose provisions were grown on the farm and not brought from the 



66 Colonial History 

West as is the custom at the present day. — we have in all this a picture of a 
thoroughly "all-around" man, according to modern phraseologw 

And while tiie father was thus engaged, the girls, Polly and Louise and 
Angeline. milked the cows and drove them to pasture, and then worked the loom 
to make so many yards of cloth hefore noon or night brought the time for getting 
up the cows, and when tired of the heavy work, for a little respite would steal 
quietly down the back stairs and crack a few nuts which grew (Mi the tree in the 
corner, — but woe to the truant when found away from work — the latch-string was 
pulled outside and no jailer further needed until the allotted task was done. 

( )rrin was first to leave the home, that he might better acc|uire the skill of 
master workman by learning the trade of building houses. His first masterpiece 
still stands a short distance south of the "Steps," which at that time was the 
name given to the locality now known as Mount Larmel Centre Post Office. 
This house built for his home proved emblematical of Xew England, for soon 
after built, the Chartered Canal compelled the moving of the house, and ( )rrin 
went West. ( )rrin had the record of serving his countrv in the War of 1812, but 
I think, not in action. His house was all built by hand labor and is now a marvel 
to look at in its fine mouldings, window sash and settings, when we think his 
hand did it all. Its present owner is Andrew McKeon. 

Lewis and W'illiam were young men when Simeon was "called home" at 
about the age of sixty-five years, in 1834. William, b)- inheritance and education, 
became skilled in the various callings of his father, and added a wider scope 
in an improved and extended homestead, and in taking especial delight with good 
care of horses. In his earl\- davs, to be a horseman was thouo"ht an unusual 
accomplishment, while any boy could drive an ox team. The scale is now 
reversed. "The early bird that catches the worm" ma}- well apply to the Torld 
family — particularly so to WilliauL During a long period when he was often 
with my father in lousiness, W'illiam was always first ready for the dav's labor, 
and it was a standing piece of advice to be ready to start for school with cousins 
Kirtland and Richie. How pleasant now to think of those days, when running 
"cross lots" they entered the rear door of the kitchen, pails in hand ready for 
school, and the old grandmother used to come in by the same path, and sister Mary 
run to meet her, — and then up to see aunt Harriet, who was especially dear, and 
whose mince pies were of first quality and a piece always ready for the bo}s. 
And lo ! there has grown up on the place, a wonderful tree, the like of which has 
never been seen elsewhere, which sprouted from in front of the door of the mother 
of Simeon and is a perpetual reminder of those whom we are thinking of. "As 
the days of a tree shall be the days of my people." 

Fitting it is that a grandson of the same name should honor his ancestors by 
a sacred calling, and whose voice has been heard in the church where his ancestors 
worshijiped. preaching the gospel of salvation. 




Photogmth.cd by H. B. Welch. -^jfp- WONDERFUL MAPLE. 



68 



Colonial Hlstokv 



The (lay of foot-stoves and Sabba-day houses and hinches between sermons 
has passed, and by many are forgotten, and very soon few wall know they ever 
existed, but memory lives with those who partook of them and enjoved them 
and held friendship a sacred thing. The days of apple bees and husking bees 
and sleighing parties were their days, and William drove a good team, and Polly 
had rather dance than to eat, and Orrin was always fond of a book, — but what 
mother will reveal to her children her follies, so what shall I sav of Angeline? 

But my subject given me is of William, he being a Todd, — and we are all 
Todds. What is for one belongs to all. and to those who came before must be 
given the greatest meed of praise. But where memory fails and tradition is in 
fault, the records are dim. Yet, certain it is that Ithamar Todd's farm was just 
inside the boundarv line when the Mount Carmel Parish was sfranted the rieht 
to build a church by the Colonial Assembly. Hence, Ithamar must have settled 
some time previous to that date, and perhaps it was he who cleared it from the 
original forest. After him came Job, and Joel, the father of Simeon. Obed, a 
brother of Simeon, built the house in tiie valley from where his daughters Lodema, 
Caroline and Mary joined with Louise and Angeline in daily walks to school. 
We know little of Obed, yet he built a water power on the brook south of the 
house, made wagons and carts, and died at the age of thirts-three. 

Were they not all heroes who stood shoulder to shoulder for one another? 
The wilderness had no terrors for them, or if they were terrors thev conquered 





+--». ***«!■.' 



■ 1 "^^ • 






^^ 




Phologra/^hcl hy !!. B. Welch. 



TIIE SIMKON TODD HOMESTEAD. 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 



69 



them, but had no time to put their deeds on record. 'Twas well that their land 
titles are preserved, and we find them straight and honest, the amount paid in 
pounds, shillings and pence, for so many acres and so many rods, instead of, 
as the records now read— "for one dollar and other valuable considerations," "so 
much land, more or less." 




HOME OF JOXA'J HAN DICKERMAN, SECOND. 

Plwtografhcd by R. E. O'Brien. 



THE DICKEKMAN FAMILY. 



^BED Todd, a brother of Simeon, built the house still standing in the valley. 
Obed died at the age of thirty-three years, but at that early age had accom- 
plished more than is the work of many men in a longer life. He constructed a dam 
across the brook \vhich crosses the highway south of the house, and also buiU a 
shop for wood-work opposite the house. Two maple trees as planted bv Obed, 
still stand in front of the house. One-half mile to the west stood the 
house of the second Jonathan Dickerman, and the fourth Jonathan Dickerman, 
who married Angeline. a daughter of Simeon Todd, soon after his marriage 
bought the Obed Todd homestead and in due time it became the home also of 
the fifth and the sixth John Dickerman. Thus, from the time of erection, this 



^o 



Colonial History 



homestead remained in the same family until the fourth generation, when, from 
causes incident to the distrihution of estates, it passed into alien hands. The 
profound affection of the family for the home of their forefathers is evidenced 
in the following poem, which was published in. the Connecticut Quarterly in 1897: 

REVERIE. 

A puriile hill ami a iiuiet star. 

And the thoughts ye luring nie frnm afar 

Carry me back to the days of yore. — 

^ly childhood's home with its wide front door, 

Its narrow porch and the grassy yard. 

The shady maples and meadow sward 

Stretching off to the hill on the west. 

The setting sun aglow on its crest: 

-\nd the northern mount so high and still 

Seemed the abode of some holy will 

When the wood thrush's note so clear and sweet 

Came tloating in to mv window seat. 




HOME OF JONATHAN DR KERMAN FOR THREE GENERATIONS. 
Photngraf^hcii by H. B. Welch. 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 



71 




Photographed by H. B. IVclch. 



THE NC^RTHEKN MOUNT. 



And the dear old house is abiding still 

By the northern mount and the western hill 

Where the sun sinks nightly to his rest 

On his daily round from east to west. 

The whip-pocTr-will's note and the thrush'.s song 

Are still to be heard the woods along; — 

But I am a wand'rer far from home. 

No longer my feet o'er meadows roam: 

I walk instead through a city street. 

With hurry and rush my pulses beat. 

Ah, well for me that still there lie 

Somewhere on earth such hills, such sky. 

And in God's own time shall T come once more 

To the hills and the vales that I loved of yore. 

Carolyn E. Dickerman. 
Waterbury, Connecticut, 
1897. 



72 



Colonial History 




THE WESTERN HILL 



By Courtesy of The Coiiin-cticiit Maga::iuc. 



THE FLORA. 




RS. Homer Tuttle, also a descendant of Jonathan Dickerman, contributes the 
following description of the llora of this locality : 

"Mount Carmel has long been the INIecca of botanical students and the 
nature lovers of the city. Neither is it strange it should be so. for here may be 
found a fair representation of New England's flora. The valley, with its meadows 




Photographed by H. B. Welch. 



SPRUCE BANK. 



74 CdLoxiAL History 

and occasional swamps, tlie mountain with its wooded slopes and moss C(n'ered 
rocks oiTer opportunity for that which nature has to show us in this cHme. 

"It wouhl he too tedious and textbook-hke to attempt ,c:ivino- a full list of 
plant life to be found here, even if it were possible, but it may be of ^-eneral 
interest to know some of the thinos that abound, and some rarely found plants 
that have here made a home for themselves. Undoubtedly there was a time 
when the foothills and meadows which now lie clear to the north and south of the 
mountain were nearl_\ . if not quite, covered with timber. ( )f what varieties these 
trees were we can form a good idea irom those now growing-. The beautiful 
maples and elms that border the highways of the village prove themselves to be 
natives of long standing, the willows that border Carmel Lake form in spring and 
summer a golden frame for its silver surface. Across the road from tins lake 
is one of Mount Carmel's beautiful elms, the branches of which overarch tlie 
street so that the tips may look into tlie ri\er below. Then we follow the old 
road by the river's side where the swamp maple makes it crimson in the spring 
and fall, first with blossoms and then with foliage, while the alder fills the inter- 
vening spaces. This brings us to Spruce Rank, fragrant with the spicy odors of 
the hemlocks. The walk to this bank is a favorite one with manv because of the 
charming view to the south. So dense is the grove of trees that crowns the 
summit of the bank that but little in the way of small plant life can be found there 
excepting the lace marked leaves of tlie rattle-snake plantain, the Indian pipes 
and dead looking beechdrops, all of which love the shadows. From here we 
can look north to the mountain and see its slopes covered with chestnut, hicknrv, 
and many varieties of oaks ; these interspersed with the dark green of the white 
pine and cedar make a pleasing ]^icture. 

'Tt is on the mountain that most of our rare wild dowers are found. From 
the early hapatica and daint}- anemone to the pungent odored witchdiazel of 
November there is always something to repay one for a walk in the woods. 
Indeed, some flowers have been found every month of the year in sheltered nooks. 
If they were listed we would find at least five hundred trees, shrubs, herbs and 
ferns. Trailing arbutus has long been sought on the mountain, but without 
success, but there are a number of places near where the sweet blossoms mav be 
found. 

"\ lolets are ever the spring fiower of i)oetry and at least seven species and 
varieties mav be found here, among the more rare ones being the bird-foot violet, 
wliich has a home on the mountain. Here, too, can occasionallv be found the 
nodding white trillium ( T. cernuum ) in company with the purple l)irth-root ; this 
latter can be found in abundance growing beside almost all the wooded brooks 
with its com])anion, but not its relative, jack-in-the-pulpit. 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 75 

"In the spring on a certain rocky spot of the Giant may he found a pale 
purple, or rather blue, clematis (C. verticillaris) which closely resembles one of 
the clematis of our gardens. This wild clematis is rare, indeed this spot on the 
Giant is tlie only one within the vicinity where I have heard of its being found, 
while its more plebeian sister, Mrgin's bower, drapes the wayside fences and 
bushes with its feathery white blooms. Once has it been my good fortune to 
find the delicate violet wood-sorrel (Oxalis violacea) ; this is not called rare by 
Grav, but in this location it surely is. 

"Among the picturesque flowers of the springtime and growing commonly 
in the woods, is the fringed polygala, and where one or two of its bright rose red 
blossoms are found one may be almost sure to find a bed of them. Once on the 
mountain top, in the very midst of such a bed, I found a number of pure white 

ones. 

"Among the oddities in plant life both the pitcher-plant and sundew may 
be found in favored localities. Though not closely related they have a few 
characteristics in common ; both are accused of being carnivorous, the pitcher- 
plant probably unjustly, and in both the leaves furnish the most striking appear- 
ance, indeed, no one could fail to know the pitcher-plant if fortunate enough 
to find it. The sundew is more obscure in its habits and would hardly be 
recognized without an introduction. 

"In this season laurel and pinxter flower make the woods and hillsides one 
immense bouquet, and tempts one to carry off more than their share of the beauty 
so freely offered by nature. Thoreau says of Cape Cod that he did not need 
to go to other places to find different flora— they came there, and one is tempted 
to think the same of :\Iount Carmel when they find here such a strictly western 
flower plant as purple cone-flower (Echinacea angustiolia) and queen of the 
[irairie (Spirea lobata ) .which, though belonging farther east than the purple 
cone-flower, cannot claim New England for its natural habitat. Most of the ferns 
native in New England may be found in Mount Carmel, even the walking fern, 
I have been assured on good authority, has been found here. 

"Of orchids we can claim a fair representation of Xew England's best. It 
mav not be amiss to append a list of those which have been foimd in Blount 
Carmel, as I am not aware that anything approaching a complete list has ever 
been published ; a partial one may be found in Baldwin's Orchids of Xew England, 
where Hamden may safely be translated Mount Carmel: 

"Orchis spectablis, Habenaria virescens, H. viridis var. bracteate, H. Hookeri, 
H. orbiculata, H. lacera, H. psycodes, Goodyera pubescens, Spiranthes cernua, S. 
Gracilis, Pogonia pendula, P. affinis, Calopogon pulchellus, Liparis hliifolia, L. 
Loeselii, Corallorhiza odontorhiza, C. multiflora, Cypripedium parviflorum, C. 
pubescens, C. spectabile, C. acaule. 




Photographed by H. B. Welch. 



THE GRKAT liLM. 




Photographed by hi. H. Welch. 



THE OLD BRIDGE. 




Photograflicd by M. IV. Fillcy. 



LO(JK]NG EAST, 




Photogral'hcd by M. W. Fillcy. 



LOOKING WEST. 



78 



CoLoxiAL History 



Most of these I have m}self found, a few are given on the authority of Mr. 
iialdwin, probably still others might be added. Most of the orchids are not 
]:)kntiful, some of the Habenarias, the ladies' tresses and the moccasin flower are 
frequently found. 

"It would not be within the scope of this paper to give the time of flowering 
and place of growth of all the plants found here. l)Ut those who truly love nature 
and wish to learn the flora of any localit\- must often visit that spot and find for 
themselves the treasures there stored." 

Al'OUSTA DiCKERMAX Tl'T'lTJ-:. 



t!^ 




Pholografhcd by H. B. Welch. 



THE NEW i'.RIDGE. 




Photograthcd by H. B. Welch. 



THE DOOR-TREE. 




MT. CARMRL IN SUM .M KK. 




Photograf'hcd by H. B. Welch. 



CARMEL r.AKE JX SUMMKR. 




MT. (Ak.mi<:l in winter. 




Photographed by H. B. Welch. CARMEL LAKE IN WINTER. 



82 Colonial History 



JaIKIS DlCKh:RMAN. 

LEAV^lXd the farm in 1852. my uncle's home in Troy, on Third Street, 
gave my first entry to city hfe. The palatial brownstone mansion, marble 
mantels and tiled hall\va\s were associated with m\- first approach to 
learning". The source of ni}- uncle's wealth was just around the corner in the 
steam marble works. Jairus Dickerman was a pioneer in that industry. Born 
in 1797, of Mount Carmel ancestry, first son of the third Jonathan Dickerman, 
he married Phoebe IJoynton of West Stockbridge, Mass., bringing there!) v 
connection with the family of Charles Boynton, D.D., pastor of Plvmouth 
Church in Washington, and Chaplain of the House of Representatives in Presi- 
dent Johnson's administration. During that time. Dr. Boynton bought a large 
farm on the eastern shore of Maryland. Here the writer became first acquainted 
with the family and bought a farm nearby on the Choptank River. In this 
investment Jairus Dickerman became a partner, and the outcome was the 
largest vineyard on the eastern shore, including about twenty thousand bearing 
vines. Sumner Dickerman, son of Jairus, became associated with the writer, 
and from his account some facts are remembered of an expedition which should 
and would be famous in histor\ had not their works of art been destroyed by 
the burning of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D. C. 

Jairus Dickerman capitalized the expedition for John Mix Stanley and 
Sumner Dickerman to cross the continent and paint pictures of Indian life. 
Their route was through the then Indian Territory, and the tribes that had then 
but lately been placed there on government reservations in 1840, Creeks, Chero- 
kees, Choctaws, Blackfoot and other tril)es, were freely mingled with during 
two years before arriving on the Pacific coast. In this time, two hundred life 
size Indian portraits were painted by hand on the canvas in the tent or wigwam 
in the great tract of the Louisiana purchase. Before General Fremont crossed 
the Rockies, before the war with Mexico, while California was little known as 
a province of Mexico, these two intrepid youths traversed the continent with 
pack mules, and emerged with the result of their labor, at the ranch of Captain 
Sutter. While enjoying here the rest due from so long exposure, Sumner 
Dickerman was assured by native Indians friendly to the explorers, that they 
knew of plenty of the yellow pebbles — the white man's gold. As they were 
in the Sacramento near the spot where gold was discovered six years later, a 
little confidence in the Indians and an examination would have made these 
two young men the first discoverers of California's gold, with possibly a dififerent 



Tin-: Parish of Mount Cakaii:l. 



83 




JAI RUS DICKER^^N. 



future in the national outcome to the country. P)Ut the Inchan tales seemed too 
incredible to believe, and did not receive even an investigation. 

After a lapse of ten years their works of art were framed in costly g'ilt 
and placed on exhibition. But Indian scenes were then too much of a reality 
in vivid memories to draw audience, and after a few exhibitions in Xew Eng-land. 
were stored in Washington only to be wholly lost. ( )ne ofifer of fifty thousand 
was rejected, and a value of two hundred thousand dollars named as an equiva- 
lent for their labor and worth. If preserved to-day, one-half million, no doubt, 
would find a ready response. 

An historical account of that time, such as their notes would give, has not 
been preserved, and no person now can give any details relating to the expedition. 



84 Colonial History 



AlLEiX DiCKERMAX HoUvSE. 



TTTE Committee appointed by order of the General Court, 1720, to lay out 
the Ninth Division for entry in Common Field, ran a line north side 
of the IMue Hills beginning- at marked tree near Mill River, and con- 
tinued eastward to Stoney Brook. This was fifty vears before the stirvey and 
layout followed by a distribution of land on the Blue Hills. Said "Stony 
Brook" is supposed to be the brook now flowing through the land of Henry 
Tattle and through the Isaac Dickerman farm. 

A short distance soutli is a higiiway running west from the Blue Hills to 
where it intersects the Cheshire road. The road was through a narrow vale, 
crossing Mill River at the southern ]3oint of Ridge Hill. Here was the home- 
stead of Isaac Dickerman. 2nd (son of Samuel Dickerman), born September 
t6. 1740. He received six acres of land on the Blue Hills in the "distribution" 
in the Ninth Division. 

In this homestead of Isaac Dickerman was born Allen Dickerman, January 
14, 1781. Allen Dickerman was the seventh child of Isaac Dickerman. His 
sister, Sybil Dickerman, born August 15, 1783, married Obed Blakeslee, who 
retained the old homestead and farm. The house remained until about 1850, 
when it was demolished and a new house built on the place by John Scott. The 
property is now owned by the New Haven Water Company. 

Isaac Dickerman served as Lieutenant under General Wadsworth's Brigade, 
in the War of the Revolution. Four sons of Isaac Dickerman settled in Mount 
Holly, Vermont. Three of them married three sisters there by the name of 
Button. 

Obed Blakeslee passed much time in the South in mercantile pursuits, in 
the sale of goods manufactured in Connecticut. He is well remembered by the 
writer, who often listened to his tales of Southern adventure when the slaves 
were their peculiar institution. Obed Blakeslee died about 1850. 

Allen Dickerman, when in command of the Eighth Company, Second 
Regiment of Militia in Connecticut, performed manual of arms on the "green" 
just north of Mount Carmel Church. After the building of the turnpike road 
and placing of toll gate south of the "Steps" and in front of house now owned 
by Andrew ^IcCune and collection of twelve cents for passing a team with load, 
those who lived south of the toll gate were permitted to pass "toll free" to their 
wood lots on the Blue Hills or within the town. It thus became the custom for 
Allen Dickerman and others thus placed, to cart a load of wood through the 
gate "toll free" to their house, and thence drive the same load to New Haven. 
The land owner who lived north of the toll gate must pay for the road. 




Photographed by B. H. Schcuch. -^j^^ ALLEx\ DICKERMAN HOUSE. 




THE EZRA DK KERIMAN HOMESTEAD. 

From a pholograt>h taken about i860. 




86 Colonial History 



OtheKvS of NOTI:. 

T a town meeting- lield in \e\v Haven. Dec. 14, 1747. Isaac Dickerman, 
/<Lj\ moderator, voted : "that the town wiU give nine pounds money toward 
tlie making and finishing a bridge on tlie road to Cheshire, and that 
Ralpli Lines shah make and maintain a good fence across said bridge so long as 
the plank on said bridge last for said money." 

The peculiar expression of the above resolution, leaves much doubt as to what 
the payment of nine pounds money was meant to be applied. Was it for the 
construction of the lindge and fence, or a literal reading would carry the 
impression, the fence and keeping it in re])air? The amount of monev nuist have 
been a liberal allotment for those da\s, and would appear sufficient to cover the 
full cost and repair of the bridge. As we know the Chesire road of that day 
was across Shepherd's Plain. Mill River would not be met until the road was 
within one-half mile of the Cheshire line. The traveled road also left the straight 
line, followed b\- the turnpike, laid out in 1800, and made a detour to the east, 
crossing the Mill River adjacent to the farm later owned bv Lambert Dickerman. 
All other brooks running into Mill River, intersected b}- the Cheshire road, were 
easily forded by teams in those days. 

Quoting from book of "Dickerman .Ancestry." "It appears that Isaac Dicker- 
man was the owner of large tracts of land in this region. These consisted of lots, 
laid (HU in the sixth division of sequestered lands. He began to buy these lots 
from those to whom they were originallv assigned, as earlv as 1727, and continued 
their purchase until 1745. Toward the end of this period his two older sons, 
Samuel and Jonathan, were married, and most likely went out about that time, 
to improve these and make a home there. ( The old folks used to say, they blazed 
their way through the woods by hatchet marks on the trees)." This settlement 
was on the spot now the property of Charles Clarke, including the land owned by 
Elam J. Dickerman, and the first house appears to have stood between the houses 
of tlie ])resent owners just named. Much interest is associated with this event, 
as it denotes the condition of the place at that time. Jonathan Dickerman was 
born 1719, thus in 1745 he was twent}-six rears old. The settlement would not 
appear probable before 1740. and was then a blazed path from the cit}-. At the 
"Steps," one-half mile north of this place, was the saw-mill, built by Joel Mimson 
'" ^735- Two miles north were the Ilradlevs in 1730. while to the south toward 
the city, was an unreclaimed forest. 

The Bellamy family, of whom little is known, were here shortly after, antl 
doubtless built the first store at the "Center," so called in 1800 by Dr. Samuel 



The Pakish of Mount Cakmel. 87 

Bradley. Thus we form a plan of the early growth, and find evidence of first 
settlements neai the north boundary of Xew Haven Colony and in the extreme 
northern and eastern part of the parish. Enos was the first son born to Jonathan 
Dickerman, 1743. The earlier homestead of Enos Dickerman was demolished by 
a descendant of the family, deorge Dickerman, who built a house on the historic 
site about 1850. Enos second, born 1775, lived on the old homestead, and was 
the ancestor of all families of that name in the western part of the parish, and 
of families who now live in Xew Haven. Xorth Haven and in the south border of 
Hamden. The homes of Dickerman families were most numerous between the 
Bradlev homestead north, and the Ives, south, nearly every house for a mile on 
the turnpike road being owned by Dickerman families. Samuel, the first, or a 
son of Samuel Dickerman. built a home east of Mill River. The site of the 
house still shows in a ruined cellar, east of the iron bridge near the dam of 
Clark's Pond. Jonathan second built east of the river near the "Steps." The 
house still stands in fair preservation, built with hand-made nails, and "wrought" 
door handle, date of building about 1775. A large barn still stands directly 
opposite the house, and shows in its construction much to denote the man who 
built it. Dimensions. 40 x 42 feet, the frame all hewed from oak with great 
regularitv and put together with extreme care. It is the largest and best preserved 
sino-le frame ever built in the Parish, and stands to-dav well protected and firm 
as when built one hundred and twenty-five years ago. The writer has durmg 
many seasons filled the barn with hay lifted by a horse fork, to its extreme limit 
of capacity, the hay being raised and gathered from the old Jonathan Dickerman 
farm. Great vicissitudes must have happened in his long life. He lived in 
colonial days and long after when the country became free and independent. 
Devoted to his home industries, profits accrued sufficiently to invest in "Vermont 
lands." which appeared as a field for improvements and attracted many settlers 
from Connecticut. The outcome of these investments were far from favorable 
and much loss ensued in principal and interest. His last days were much em- 
bittered in many ways and tlie estate again sufifered division, to be reunited by 
the labors of Jonathan the fourth, and the fifth in the line, who made great advance 
in farming and in raising superior horses and cattle. By the continued system of 
rc-distribution of estates, the farm has gone into decay and now shows little of 
its former producing capacity or of tlie prosperity once enjoyed there. 

Doubtless no colonial house has suffered less change in its surroundings than 
the home of Jonathan Dickerman, second. Water is still drawn from the deep 
and cold well bv winding a rope around a large revolving wooden wheel, seen in 
no other place. The old well-house still stands, and the big barn in the orchard, 
which sixty years ago produced the finest apples that went to Xew Haven market. 
The grape industrv first flourished here, and five hundred barrels of market 
apples were not unusual as a season's production. 



88 Colonial History 

Jared Dickennan, a grandson of the first Jonathan, hved to be one of the old- 
est men in Mount Carniel. He was born in 1798 and died in 1891, aged ninety- 
two years. His wife, Henrietta, was a daughter of Ambrose Tuttle, as previously 

Seymour Dickerman. burn in 1786, was a man of unique attainments among 
those who contributed to the enlargement of infant industries. In the davs of 
our }outh. the four-horse team of Seymour Dickerman was a team to be admired. 
Those were days when hauling of loads was done by oxen. Long ox teams passed 
over the turnpike from Cheshire, augmented bv many teams from Mount Carmel, 
loaded with wood, hay, potatoes and other field products, to New Haven. Sev- 
mour Dickerman sought a more distant field to exploit. Fair Haven, which long 
held the banner as foremost in the oyster business, in those days sent their 
oysters abroad, in kegs holding from one quart to one gallon. No steam trains 
then transported goods. Water freighting and teams were the only means of 
distribution. Albany was near the outpost of civilization, and that was a long 
drive l)y which to carry oysters from Fair Haven. Also the transportation must 
be in cold weather. Preserving- by use of ice was then unthought of. 

The four-horse team of Seymour Dickerman traversed the roads to Albany 
for many years, delivering these oysters in the small kegs. When at school in 
Troy, in 1852, my uncle, Jairus Dickerman, described to me how Seymour Dicker- 
man had appealed to him, on one of his first journeys with oysters, to help sell 
his load. The inhabitants at that tune were unacquainted with oysters. Bv a 
judicious distribution of a few kegs, love for the oyster soon developed, and the 
four-indiand found it lively work to supply the demand. Long lines of travel 
broaden human vision. Doubtless tliose drives over the Catskill ranges and hills 
passed on the highway, caused our miniature hills to look small to Se\mour 
Dickerman. 

In about 1850, there was a streak of land, green with growing rye, lying 
between what is now known as first and second peak, on Alt. Carmel. It lav far 
up, near the top, and the field had been cleared by Seymour Dickerman, and 
carefully cultivated. The ascent up the mountain, on the north side, to the field, 
was much more difficult than by the roadways since built, yet he thought lightlv 
of driving his spirited sorrel horses up and down the mountain. 

On the south side of Mt. Carmel, the highway is over Turner Hill, so named 
from a homestead there once occupied by a family of that name. Turner Hill 
long held a reputation of extreme difficulty in crossing. A family who had 
removed to Ohio, returned to visit their native place and inquired at the house of 
Job Blakeslee, one-half mile east of Turner Hill, how far the distance to Turner 
Hill. They could not conceal their surprise when told they had passed it one-half 
mile in their rear. "Why," said they, "we have been in great trouble, all the 
wav from Ohio, to know how we could drive down Turner Hill," and in realitv 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 89 

passed it without knowing- the place, having become inured to so much greater 
(hfficultics in the long drive. 

The writer, in 1874, made a trip by wagon of more than one hundred miles 
west from Delevan in Minnesota. The Eastern idea entertained of the prairies 
beino- that of a whollv level country, free of stone, was sadly marred by the scenes 
passed, and the roads travelled. Descending into the then frontier town of 
Jackson, the road seemed near a perpendicular descent, and the numerous boulders 
which skirted the roadway along the course of the upper waters of the Des Moines 
River, showed the vast Coteau de Prairie of this region, to be far from a level 
plain. Numerous flocks of water fowl filled the fifty-two lakes passed (every 
pond is a lake in Minnesota) with troops of sand-hill and wdiite crane, crowded 
abandoned corn fields. 

An industry long since lost to Mt. Carmel. was the cooperage business. 
During the early vears of the nineteenth century. New Haven received a large 
share of the trade from the West Indies, and much commerce went out from 
here. The making of hogsheads to be filled with molasses and rum was actively 
carried on by Hezekiah Brockett. His shop stood on the turnpike road next the 
homestead of Seymour Dickerman. The homestead of Hezekiah Brockett still 
stands, the same as it was a century ago, two-story front with lean-to roof m 
the rear, on the corner of what is now named Tuttle avenue. On the corner 
opposite stands the brick house built by Charles Brockett, son of Hezekiah. The 
business connected with the cooperage industry, deserves more than passmg 
notice. The market in the West Indies was ready to pay cash for immense 
quantity of products from the forest covered hills of Mount Carmel. 

The citizens here became expert in making hoops, which were shipped on 
board the returning merchant vessels, for their cargoes of molasses and rum. 
When the leaves began to fall in the forest, the coopers entered the woods, and 
very soon after loads of hoops were moving to the seaport. All kinds of hard 
wood entered into the product, at prices from twenty dollars to forty-five dollars 
for a thousand hoops. The market usually continued open till spring, rendering 
the winter industry a season of profit. The cooperage business in New Haven 
also bought all the hickory poles offered, paying forty dollars a thousand for poles 
twelve feet long, and a graduated price for poles of shorter length. No demand 
has opened for West India trade since 1880. 

In or about i8c)o, the writer had a market for more than sixty thousand 
hickory hoops, seven feet long, to be used on barrels to be filled with ingot copper. 
The hoops were made on the place, near where the poles were cut. by coopers 
who came from New York. Since that date there has practically been no market 
for hoops, and the poles are now suffered to grow into cord wood. 

Three men of mark in the industries of Mount Carmel lived within easy 
hail of two of the homesteads still standing. No man has made a more note 



90 



Colonial History 




CHARLES BROCKETT. 



worthy record in the pansli than Charles Brockett. Of liis posterity and name 
none are now hvins:^ in the state. The property of the three adjoining- homesteads, 
has long since passed to the possession of those "not t(T the manor born." Charles 
Brockett, while imjiroving liis farm, remarked that he had no grandson to want 
his farm. He retired from an active life in the mannfacture of wagon springs, 
at the beginning of the Civil War. The stagnation of business at that time led 
him to sell his manufactured stock on hand, and retire from business. A few 
years previous the town of Hamden had elected Charles Brockett its first select- 
man, and he was retained in that office four consecutive years, all of which were 
eventful in the town history. The beginning of his term was marked bv the sale 
of the town farm, where the i^.oor had been cared for. and erectinsf new buildings 
on land donated to the town, where the present site now is occupied bv the build- 
ings erected during the term of t'harles Ilrockett's administration. Following 
closely came the building of the dam on Mill River in Whitneyville 1)}- the New 
Haven Water Co., resulting in the overflow of the adjoining roadwavs, causing 
thereby much consultation in adoi)ting the best routes for the continuation of 



TiiK Parish of Mount Carmel. 



9i 



travel. Many town meeting's were called and useless litio"ation prevented by the 
firm stand and wise counsel of Charles Hrockett in the administration. 

The United States government during- this time, made a call to fill the quota 
of men from the town, to go to the front, and it was found after enrollment of 
all citizens liable for militar\ duty, that thirt\-six must be drafted. Still later two 
more drafts were ordered in the town of Hamden to furnish the men called for 
during- the war. The popularity of Mr. I'rockett was so great, that in the 
troublous times of those davs, the succeeding man elected to fill the office of first 
selectman, resigned, and Air. Urockett was re-elected to fill his place. Mr. 
Urockett lived many years after the close of the war, and found repose in cultivat- 
ing his farm. He had been among the very earliest to engage in the making of 
steel wagon springs, and his springs needed no better indorsement than his name 
on them. His estate was the largest ever probated in Mount Carmel. at the time 
of his decease. I'ut few people now living will remember the spring factory 
at the Canal lock on the Arba Dickerman farm, llv the closing of the canal and 
building the railroad on the towpath, Air. l)rockett built a new factory a short 
distance above the "Steps," where the water was retained in the canal, and con- 
ducted under the roadway giving good power in reaching Mill River above the 
dam. No buildings now mark the site of either of these manufactories. Even 
the name and memor\' of Charles I'rockett will soon be forgotten by those who 
come after. 




Photogral^licd by R. E. (yBririi. 



\\\<{ )(.KK'r'r J lOMESTKAD. 



92 Colonial History 




The Hezekiah Bkockett Oak. 

KiHTEEX feet and ten inches in circumference. The top is much de- 
nuded, and has httle of the wide hranching characteristic of white oak 
development in open growth. The body of the tree has many overgrown 
scars where bereft of branches through storms of ice and age, but its lieight has 
been left unimpaired to still stand, the one sole surviving tree of the native forest 
on the Colonial Farmington road through Xew Haven to Cheshire line. The 
trunk is yet sound, w^ith fair ])rospect to live through the present century. Cal- 
culating its growth by the normal gain of the white oak. two hundred years are 
required to attain its present dimensions. We are to consider the tree to have 
been in a state of decadence the past century or more, and may have remained 
without enlargement for a long time ; it may be supposed the tree stood before 
the Mayflower landed at Plymouth. i)ossibly before America was discovered by 
Columbus. It certainly has now the unique character of the one native landmark 
unchanged by time, still remaining where a score of similar monarchs of the 
forest that once graced the street have disappeared. 

From this venerable oak Hezekiah Brockett suspended a chain to hold his 
inverted hogsheads in position, while a fire burned underneath to char the inner 
surface. His cooperage shop stood in the shade of this tree, where the venerable 
mugwumps of Dog Lane held their weekly sittings of the "Dog Lane Court." 

From, or very near this tree, was the starting point in the original layout of 
a highway so far as Stony Brook, north side of the Blue Hills, in 1720. Leverett 
A. Dickerman (now eighty years of age) remembers when several white oak- 
trees, each similar to the "Hezekiah IJrockett oak," stood at different points 
along the road south toward the city. Afr. L. A. Dickerman is also authority for 
the statement that the original layout of the Farmington road was through what 
has later been called Centerville, east to near Mill River where the road now 
makes a sharp angle due north past the cemetery and thence following its present 
course. We must accept as change made by the Farmington Turnpike Co., a 
layout through the Jared Ives farm in 1800. The roadbed is now seen to the north 
of the house, through cultivated tields, where it meets the present road near the 
residence of Dr. George H. Joslin. Maple trees now standing in front of the 
Jared Ives house, show where the road passed near the house now owned and 
occupied by Burton T. Jones. The building of the canal pushed the highway to 
the east; later still it was further removed by the steam railroad (finally aban- 
doned), and is at present occu])ied 1)\- the trolley road. 




THE HEZEKIAH BROCKETT OAK. 




THE JULIUS RICE TREE. 



Photographed by H. B. Welch. 



94 Colonial History 



Dog Lane Court. 



To picture life during the later decades of the eighteenth century, we imagine 
the "Connecticut (Gazette" being dropped from the four-horse stage- 
coach as it drew up at the Rradlcv traven. Judge Bradley's house held 
tlie "Library" ( still preserved there, with a copy of the oldest newspaper in the 
state, dated 1757, and a weather record of twenty-hve years closing in 181 1). 
Militia muster and general training came but twice a year, — something must fill 
in for weekday sport. What more can show the judicial bent of mind than the 
organization of a burlesque court to hold meetings Saturday afternoons. Here 
was opportunity for fair play in oratory, debate, and legal wit. A full record of 
inception and rules adopted, with forensic skill displayed, would no doubt reveal 
the early talent that sought a larger field for development. 

There were also trials of strength, wherein the Doolittle family became 
famous in wrestling matches, the shouldering a beam of four hundred pounds 
weight, the lifting a cider barrel and drinking from the bung. Tradition gives 
only a fragment. Reuben Doolittle, noted for feats of strength, had been thrown 
in a wrestling match by a student at Yale, on the college campus. Reuben 
said he had a brother a little better than himself. The student invited him to 
bring on his brother. ( )n the next visit to the cit\ , the brother, Caleb, came 
with his ox cart loaded with cider. The student was ready for the contest. 
Caleb said he thought they had better first take a drink (^f cider, and he proceeded 
to remove the bung from a full barrel in the ox cart, then, lifting the barrel, he 
drank from the bung-hole and promptly offered it to the student, who declined 
with thanks. The wrestling match was oft'. 

Like the repelling names found to attach to mining camps, the beautiful 
street must be caricatured. "Dog Lane" included the north portion, south to 
the brook that crosses where now are the ruins of the former steam railroad depot. 

As a burlesque on court and legal proceedings. Mount Carmel had its "Dog 
Lane Court," with a yearly appointment of judge, clerk of court and attorneys, 
governed b\- rules and by-laws, with weekly meetings on Saturday afternoons. 
( )l(ier memories than the writer's must be consulted to know intimately of the 
work of this august tribunal. Records doubtless perished with the collapse of 
the judicial order. The quaint proceedings of the organization seem to have 
been quite unique, as we do not read of anything similar elsewhere. 

One by-law provided a penalty on all farmers who did not complete their 
first hoeing of corn by June 20th. The penalty affixed was, that the members 



The Parish of Mount Carmeu 95 

of the court must hoe the balance of the field, and the delinquent farmer was 
summoned to appear and be crowned in public with the shell of a mud turtle. 

By the neglect to ])ay a sixpence toward a bowl of "t^ip," the culprit was 
sentenced to be tied to a cart-tail and cast into a deep underground bam cellar 
filled with the filth of a hog pen. In one instance, the latter judgment was 
executed when the ofifending member could get no release until midnight. 

The necessary qualification for judge was the man who could tell the biggest 
lie and make people believe it. A character known as "Governor Smith," 
whose house passed after his own demise near 1850, was selected under these 
qualifications to be judge of Dog Lane Court. He acknowledged the honor in 
befitting words, lamenting his own inability and acknowledging the superior 
qualifications for the otfice of his friend Job. Xot that brother Job could tell 
a bigger lie than himself, but that he had a way of laying emphasis with his 
raised finger and thus make men believe it better than he could : therefore, 
brother Job ought to be made judge of Dog Lane Court. 

Mr. Henry Tuttle, in his eightieth year, relates the following anecdotes 
of Dog Lane Court, from memory : 

"Jason, according to what my father told me, kept liostelry where Lorenzo Peck 
now lives. Some of the men inquired what kind of a man Jason was. Well, some 
spoke very well and some didn't, but one turned to old Captain Castle and said, 'What 
have you got to say about him?' 'Well, he is a nice man, a very nice man, but, after all, 
he is a sharper, and a sharper according to old Johnson's dictionary, is a petty thief!' 

"My father used to attend their meetings. They had meetings for election of 
officers. Sometimes the officers would hold over for several years. One of the places 
for holding meetings was the Cooperage shop of Hezekiah Rrockett, a Governor who 
was in for a good many years. They met at one time to elect officers. The first 
business was to ballot for Governor. They took a ballot and elected Stevens. Gov- 
ernor Brockett got up and made a speech, thanking them for the confidence they had 
placed in him in electing him to the office of Governor, the highest office in the state. 
It was a great honor to him. he said, on account of the fact that you know we always 
elect the most high-minded and honorable man for that position. He got through 
with his speech and let Governor Stevens get up. and he said: 'Gentlemen: After 
hearing Mr. Brockett's speech you would think that that was entirely the principle 
that all the people of this Dog Lane Court voted upon, but you are mistaken— that 
is not the principle you go upon, for everybody who knows old Governor Stevens 
knows that he will lie, steal and get the best of everybody he can, and that is the 
principle we go upon to elect men to office." 

"When the farmers did not take care of their crops well but let them go to weeds, 
they would turn out and make sentence that they should bring in something to drink, 
crown them with a turtle shell, and hoe their corn for them. 

"Obed Blakeslee, they called the 'laziest man in Mount Carniel.' But he said. 
'I ain't a lazy man — what do you think of Eli?' 'Oh,' says one, 'Eli is what I call a 
dead slow man, but you are what T call a downright lazy man.' 

"As to old Eli's farming. He owned a flat lot where Brockett's farm was. I 
always saw him coming up around the road with his shovel. The old man planted 



96 Colonial History 

corn in the old-fashioned way of planting beans between the rows. One morning he 
told the boys to go into the lot and plant beans in the forenoon. Then they went down 
and got their dinner. After dinner the boys said, "Well, what shall we do this after- 
noon?" 'Well, I guess you'd better go up and go to planting beans again.' 'Well, 
father, what are you going to do?' 'Well,' he said, 'I am going to do the looking out.' 
'Well, father,' said one of the boys, 'suppose w^e swap works this afternoon.' " 

Can history be complete, where Hght falls only on pages bright in attractive 
colors? To be truthful must it not be like the figure where, 

''Some days must be dark and dreary." 

Our colonial era of 1794 found a broad, straight and almost level street 
one hundred feet wide, which, if preserved till to-day. might well be the pride and 
delight of the town. Xo chartered turnpike or toll gate, at that date marred 
the personal freedom of the use of the highway. Colonial houses were built very 
close to the street line. Two-story, with cut red sandstone foundations, stand 
imposing structures to this day. Just north, and near to the ancient meetinghouse, 
stood the Bellamy house, in which was organized the Dav Spring Lodge of Free 
Masons. The charter was granted by the Grand Lodge of the State of Connecticut 
to Samuel Bellamy, Ezra Kimlx^rlv. George A. Bristol. Levi Tuttle, Amos Bradley. 
Leverett Limberly. Tul!\- Crosby. Simeon Goodyear. Job Afunson. The record of 
the lodge, printed in 1881, says the house still stands. To this might have been 
added, "marred of its former beauty." The place where childhood budded and 
bloomed, where tenderness in thought clustered in everything developed with care. 
The boast of the economist is of increased wealth without a thought as to where 
wealth centers. Improved farms pay the highest rate of taxation. Large invest- 
ments foil the assessor in diverse ways Lessons learned in the past fortv vears have 
barred the farm to American youth. The immigrant is now working again in 
homes of our sires. What else than undivided estates gives English life the 
prestige it holds throughout the world ? For what else but the charm of old 
houses do American citizens roam the continent?' Will opulent citizens of the 
East ever have like cause to visit America? They come while America has new 
mines to exploit, or areas of states to parcel out in cattle farms ; but what of 
the attractiveness left in a country settled orily two hundred years, alreadv de- 
generate? Fitting it is that the peasantry from the east find our colonial hoiues 
with open doors, wdiere they may come and find welcome. 

"Ill fares the land to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates and men decay." 

Long lines of stonewalls, highways, grown up to brush, and once cultivated 
fields overgrown with Avoodlands, now occupy an area of several square miles on 
the northeastern slope of the mountain. About all that is known is that settlers 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 97 

here built their homes, that numerous famiHes grew up here, who moved West 
in the migrations that settled western New York and Ohio. Having experienced 
something of pioneer life on the prairies and traveled by wagon across the de- 
vastated farms in the locust invasion, I have known the way of livmg and habit 
of thought inculcated where wheat was the only staple raised for market, the 
eao-erness to seize on belts of woodland, and the absence ot cultivated fruits,- 
these deserted homesteads came forcefully to mind ; and were my choice to be 
made the old homestead sites would again be made to bloom and new orchards 
would smile with choicest fruits in one of the best locations fitted for such a 
purpose. The Methodist meeting-house, once filled with worshippers, has long 
been closed, the school is closed, dismantled and gone for want of scholars. 

True ,t i^ they all started and left us, and closed is the church where they prayed, 
And none have come after to tarry, and lost are their homes in the wood. 
You may find still their names by the rivers, the lakes, and in mines and in mills. 
Where commerce sweeps on to the ocean, with wealth from their looms and their hiUs. 

\aron Tuttle enlisted in the War of the Revolution when seventeen years 
old His home life was associated with a portion of Mount Carmel, where its 
history began before the charter was given to the parish,-a past so remote that 
not a 'house now remains, where within two centuries were built up flounshmg 

farms. . , , , -n vi 

Lovers of landscape beauty like to describe rich vine-clad hills with an 

eastern slope, which bear the renowned wines of the world. Sunrise shines first 

on these highlands facing the east, with the whole range of Mount Carmel at tne 

back Cold winds from west and north are warded off. Late and early frosts 

sink to the lowlands. Fog skirts the valley far below, while here is salubrity 

^vith health. Earlv spring da^ s average a temperature twenty or thirty degrees 

warmer than in unprotected situations. In evidence that pioneer settlers here 

knew well of the benefits of high location, heredity points to the 1 uttle race as 

being far-sighted in making early selections. We find Jude Tuttle. father of 

Aaron transferred a tract of land to his son in 1748, on the Blue Hills. Jude 

Tuttle's father was Aaron Tuttle, son of Jonathan Tuttle. Thorpe in 'North 

Haven Annals." savs. "Jonathan Tuttle began a settlement near the Ouinnipiac 

River in 1670." He built a bridge across the river and was allowed by the 

general court to collect toll for crossing. Records further say Jonathan Tuttle 

was baptized at Charlestown, Mass., in 1633. One hundred years later the 

descendants of Jonathan Tuttle were making homes on the eastern slope of 

Mount Carmel. " Jude Tuttle, the father of Aaron Tuttle, received a deed from 

his father of land on the Blue Hills in 1748. The above land was originally 

laid out to Thomas Tuttle, who died in 1710. 



98 Colonial History 

The eminent Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, Hon. T. S. Gold, 

who has lately resigned his post after continuous labor of more than fifty years, 

once said that "Connecticut is a good state in which to raise up boys."' The 

first half of the Xineteenth centur\ was mostly remarkable in Connecticut life 

by producing emigrants to people new fields, some as pioneers in farming, some 

as pioneers in thought. Alount Carmel has contributed more than the overplus 

of its growth in pioneers. There is no state from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

but has representatives from this small spot. How much influence in drawing 

to distant states ma;\- be ascribed to the charming views of commerce and 

manufacturing seen from the top of Carmel, 

White winged messengers of commerce 
Speed their way across the blue. 

( )n the prairies not a pebble can be picked to throw, giving the nuiscular 
energ\- to the bovs, and there is no nearby l)rook in which to fish, that dear 
induleence to the bovish heart. ( )n one of the most beautiful farms of the 
JVlendon Prairie of Illinois, a youth said to me that he did not like hedge fence. 
If it were not for heds^e, when too wet to work corn, he could go fishing, but 
with farm fenced with osage it was "trim hedge." Every pastime of the boy 
is cut ofl:' on the prairie farm. The elastic mind is liorn among the hills. Poetry 
is an element of rippling brooks and mountain heights. The stone that breaks 
the furrow sets inventive thought in_ motion. The best horses and the best 
fruits grow in New England, — \\h\ not boys of note, such boys as have gone 
from here to l^ecome men of mark in their especial field? ( )ne of the l)oys, whose 
ancestors were first to build a house in the parish, has become twice a president 
of the New York Stock Exchange — several terms a governor in the Exchange, 
and is to-day a partner in one of Xew York's most prominent firms of bankers. 

Another man of large business interests which grew out of original thought 
in the neighborhood of these hills was William D. Hall. At a time of great 
depression in Inisiness near to 1850, he associated with himself a few farmers witli 
a combined capital of five thousand dollars. The avowed design of the companv 
was to grind bone, and render of value the waste of the slaughter house ofifal. To 
conduct the business far from a populous neighborho(^d, the first purchase of the 
companx' was a strip of land in the remote corner of the northeast of Mount 
Carmel Parish. His own residence was where the line ran through the house ; 
while claiming a residence in Mount Carmel, lie could enter Xorth Haven without 
leaving his home. The company's business chartered as the "Ouinnipiac Com- 
pany," ccjntinued in l)usiness until about 1890. Previous to 1850 the Menhaden 
fish had swarmed along the shores of Long Island Sound. Numerous attempts 
had been made to utilize the oil but without success. There came a period of 
Scarcity of supply of neat's-foot oil, which was supplied by the Ouinnipiac Com- 
l^any, where it was used in th.e turning of iron axles in the factorv of Henrv Ives 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 99 

in Mount Carmel. To supply the want. William D. Hall ordered his driver in 
gathering supplies, to bring in a load of Menhaden fish on the first opportunity. A 
propitious season favored early in June and a load of fish arrived just as the men 
were closing the mill. The fish were quickly deposited within the mill, when the 
men retired to their homes. Not so William D. Hall. The hour had come that 
was to change the destiny of the Menhaden that filled the waters of the coast of 
the Atlantic. The years of starvation of soils had come to an end. The Peruvian 
guano of South America had not a rival or defect. Xo longer would the process 
continue necessary to consume the fish by birds to make a return to wasted soils. 
The great fleet of ships and armies of coolies employed to load them would find 
competition at the very threshold of the wasted fields. The most skilled chemists 
would elucidate along untrodden paths of vegetable nutrition. Fleets would fill 
the waters of the coast-lying inlets, watching for the menhaden, while factories 
on shore were waiting with steam up, ready to convert the fish into marketable 
conditions in oil and fertilizer. — Let us return to Hall in the mill. The light of 
a discovery was dawning within him. His plan of rendering the oft'al, the 
first adopted at that time, was by steam conveyed to tanks. The previous plan 
had been to boil in kettles. By the use of steam in tanks, the ofi:'al, after rising to 
the top, on continuing the process would sink to the bottom of the tank, leaving 
the oil to float on top. Fish factories had, earlier than this date, been established 
(Ml the coast, but in confining their methods to boiling in kettles, good oil could not 
be obtained. On the eventful night m the mill on the edge of the cndurinsf IMue 
Hills, before morning dawned the problem was solved — how to render the Men- 
haden of commercial value. 

The intention of the discoverer was to procure oil. Possibilities of the 
residue of the fleshy portion of the fish had not }et dawned. He little knew on 
that night that the plains devastated in a century and a half of wasteful agriculture 
had, in the fish scrap, the elements carried from the land into the sea. The 
elucidation of the business ventures which followed this discovery might be 
extended through volumes and the business developed met the exigencies of 
thousands through Xew England and extended in its ramifications to all i)arts of 
the Continent. 

A benefactor to the human race has been described as one who caused two 
blades of grass to grow where had been but one. The discovery of William D. Hall 
caused many blades to grow where there had been none. The ever increasing 
population of the East had found a place in the West for its overflow. A worn- 
out soil was considered a worthless piece of the creation. A definite limit had 
been placed on the amount of human sustenance that might be derived from the 
earth. By the light of science brought out by an accidental discovery, the possi- 
bilities of recuperation of the soil was found to be unlimited and a way developed 
by which the waste in one form was restored by another. The wealth of the sea 

LOfC 



100 



Colonial History 



is quickl}- returned. The phosphate deposits of ages are assimilated in a form to 
g-ive Hfe. Even the rocks yield up riches to feed a depleted field. The last half of 
the nineteenth century has witnessed a revolution in the possihilities of feeding 
the earth. Foremost among human agenc\- should appear the name of William 
I). Hall. 



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Till': NOR I II ri:Mi-:TKRN', 



EFITArHvS. 



In memory of JNIr. Samuel Dickerman. 

Died May lo. 1760, age 44 years. 

The sweet remembrance of the just 
Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust. 



SAMUEL DICKERMAN, died 1789. age 45 years. 

He was a kind Husband and tender parent- eminent in Benevolence 
& Humanit}' iS: a wortliy member of Society. 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 

In memory of Mrs. MARY DICKERMAN, 

Wife of Samuel Dickerman. 

Died Dec. 5, 1802, aged 85 years. 

My soul in Thy sweet liaiuls T trust. 

Now can T sweetly sleep; 
Uy body falling into dust 
I love with Thee to keep. 

Sacred to tlie memory of JONATHAN nlCKERMAN 
„ho departed .bis life Jttly 28, ,795. - tbe 77.1^ X^^r of l„s age. 
He was a reputable member of society, 
Benevolent to the poor in distress, 
Industry, regularity, frugality & good 

Econon'y marked h.s life. To human appearance he was 
a follower & promoter of the religion of Jesus. 
The sweet remembrance of the just 
Shall flourish when he sleeps in dust. 

f TON ATH \N DICKERMAN 
In memory ol JUiN A i n^^AiN lyi^^^ 

who died May 2nd, 1821, in the 75th year of his age. 
Praises on tombs are trifles vainly spent. 
A man's good name is his best monument. 

In memory of SIMEOX TODD 
who died Nov. 28, 1833. in his 63rd year. 
Farewell my wife and children dear, 
God calls me home from you; 
Do not murmur nor repme 
For God is just and kind. 

the spirit of the just. 

iMy Saviour I adore, 

Smile upon my sleeping dust 

That now can weep no more. 

OBED TODD, died 181 1, age 33. 

Come hither all my friends and see 
The grass grown leaf that covers me: 
Cut ofif from every joy in life 
From lovely babes and faithful wife. 
No man from death is ever free. 
Roth young and old must follow me. 



102 Colonial PIistory 



Land Records. 



[Copy from 1 Proprietors' Records, page 459.] 
Order for Layout ix Common Field, a portion of Blue Hills. 

New Haven, February 13, 1721. 
We. whose names are underwritten, bemg appointed a committee to set off half 
the Bhie Hills and the West Rock to Thomson's Gap. for Town Commons, have 
marked off the several places we were appointed for. We begun at the Blue Hills at 
a known place called Stony Brook, it being about the midway between the East and 
jNIill River, and from thence we went westerl}- at the south side the Blue Hills leaving 
a convenient highway, marking the trees, and heaps of stones at the root of every 
tree, till we came to the Mill River at the north side William Bassett third division 
lot, and from thence to the north side of the Blue Hills, leaving a convenient highway 
between and the Rock, beginning at two trees marked standing by the River, and 
from thence easterly leaving a convenient highway and marked trees and stones, till 
we came over with the Ston}- Brook on the opposite south side and marked trees 
across to said Brook. 

THEOPHILUS MUNSON, 
ISAAC DICKER^IAN, 
THOMAS TROWBRIDGE, 
JOSEPH MANSFIELD, 

Committee. 
Per SAMUEL BISHOP. Clerk. 



Land \"alues 173,^ 
Deeded by Amos Bradley to Daniel Bradley — 

184^ acres for £54 current money, corresponding to $270.00 — \"er\' near $1.50 
per acre. 

The earliest preserved record of assessors' enumeration and valuation of property 
in Mount Carmel is 1844: 

Six hundred and fifty-seven (657) neat cattle are assessed at $10.006.61 — average value 
a trifle more than $16.00 each. 

Ninety-seven (97) horses valued at $3,515.00 — average value of $36.00 each. 

Four hundred and eighty-four (484) sheep valued at $1.00 each. 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. ^^3 



BiA'K Hill Kecord Book. 

^r-^ HE following extracts are front the -Town of Hamden Blue Hill Comnion 
^ FteW Record Book.' a volunte itr manuscript, on whtch the pr,ce ,s 
ii tttarked as three shillings ninepence. and which was tottnd a,.ong the 
„a„ers of the late Roderick Kinrberh . who officially ntade the entry of the last 
ad otnred meeting of the Association held at his hottse March l.th. .842. Tl 
aSI was formed for the purpose of caring for the open or — " e^ 

,„, ,„e -Bltte Hi,..- as Mt. ^^^ ^ ^^^.X^^V^^l:^ 

annual meetings begmnmg m i8o/. i He hrst page 

••,t a County Court holdeu at New Haven in and for the County of New Haven 
.1 ,th Tne.dav of Xovember. 1807, upon the petition of David J. Tuttle and 

o th! bove described tract of land be permitted to use and improve said land a. a 
Til hv the name of Blue Hill Common Field, and they are hereby full> 
::Z;:ertnd' iJp:.:^ t^Sorm and improve the same accordingly ..tl. all the 
^oweT: and privileges by Law appertaining to Proprietors ot common Field. 

By the Court ^^ ^ LYNDE. Clerk. 



the foregoing is a true copy of Record 

Attest M. H. LYNDE. Clerk. 



the above is a true copy of the original r-i 1 - 

\tte.t RUSSEL PTERPONT, Proprietors Clerk. 

The first meeting- of these Proprietors was held at jhe '■D-ellmg house of 
Cap't Tared Cooper in said Hamden" on the 7th day of March. 1808. A the 
second meeting it was voted that a fence should be erected around the hill.. 
To quote again : 



104 Colonial History 

"At an adjourned ^Meeting of the Proprietors of the Blue Hill Common Field 
held at the house of Mr. Ezra Kimberly April 17th. 1809. Mv. Jotham Tuttle Moderator. 
Ambrose Tuttle chosen Clerk Pro Tem 
Voted to release David J. Tuttle from being Committee 
Voted to release Jotham Tuttle from being fence viewer 
Jotham Tuttle chosen Committee 

David J. Tuttle, Eber Ives, Chaunce}' Dickerman chosen Fence \^iewers. 
Voted to adjourn this meeting t<> the fourth day of May at 5 o'clock in the aftermion 
at this place. Recorded by RUSSEL PIER PONT, Clerk." 

"At a meeting of the Proprietors of the Blue Hill Common Field held by adjourn- 
ment May 4th. 1809 
Mr. Jotham Tuttle Moderator — ■ 

Manly Dickerman. Leveritt Tuttle, Simeon Todd, Jonathan Dickerman. Hezekiah 
Tuttle were chosen Haj'wards. 

Voted that the Fees for pounding Cattle, Horses, Sheep & Swine found within the 
Inclosure of the Blue Hill Commonfield shall be double the sum set or granted by law. 
Voted to adjourn this meeting without day RUSSEL PIERPONT, Clerk." 

The members of the Association seem to have served in rotation as "Pro- 
prietors' Committee, Fence Viewers, Haywards" and general officers. Tables 
are given showing the assignment of *'each one's share of the North and South 
Tiers of Land on the Blue Hills," and in the back of the book are recorded a 
number of transfers of these various properties. A few of the later votes are 
as follows : 

"On the 20th of ]March 1817. Voted that the jioundage on cattle be 25 cents per 
head. Voted that the poundage on sheep be 3 cents per head. Voted to adjourn this 
meeting without day. LEVERITT TUTTLE, Clerk." 

"March 3rd, 1823, Voted to tax the Proprietors of the Blue Hill Common Field 
two cents on the acre payable the tirst of May next for defraying the necessary ex- 
penses of said field. Uri Todd was chosen to collect said tax. 

"Voted that the compensation of the fence viewers be 75 cents per day when 
called out b}' the Committee." 

.\pril 6th. 1S30, ^^oted that any person may turn Horses or Sheep on to the Blue 
Hill Common Field with liberty from a Committee appointed for that purjjose by 
paying 20 cents a head per week for Horses and 1^2 cents a head per week for sheep." 

"March 7th. 1836, Voted that the ponndage fees be fifty cents a head for Cattle 
and Horses and five cents a head for Sheep; two-thirds of the iioundage fees to the 
impounder, and one-third to pound keeper." 

The entries continue until March 12, 1842. 

Witness to the exactness with which the Society proceeded, is the following- 
table which, among others, appears in the book. 

"We the subscribers, being chosen a Committee by the Proprietors of the North 
and South Tiers of Land on the Blue Hills to portion out each one's share of same 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 105 

in order to enclose the same, have proceeded and set off the same in the following 
manner, viz: — • 

THIS IS THE AGREEMENT BILL ON THE PROPRIETORS OF THE BLUE 

HILLS LAND. 

Acres. Qrs. Rods. 

Jonathan Dickerman 64 2 2l54 

Heirs of I\ledad Todd 59 i '2'7V2 

Joel and Simeon Todd 97 ~ ^V^ 

Jonathan Tnttle 30 o o 

Joseph Turner 40 i 7/^ 

Isaac Tuttlc i-^ o Zi 

Seba Thorp 10 o o 

Ithamar Tnttle 12 3 28 

Joshua Tnttle 5 2 3114 

Deborah «& Job Blakeslee 24 i 2314 

Jesse Tnttle 8 i 28 

Jenajah Bishop i 2 o 

Aaron Tnttle i 2 o 

Eleazar Munson 8 o o 

Peter Eastman 4 2 o 

Hezekiah Tnttle 6 o o 

George Merriman o 3 o 

Lyman Todd 5 o o 

Reuben Doolittle 8 o ' o 

Joel Doolittle 4 o o 

Ephriam Johnson 2}, I il 

Titns Mansfield 2 o 14 



o 



5 



Jesse Tnttle 48 i 

Hannah Tuttle 10 o 2 

Hannah Todd 3 2 7 

Mary Johnson . .' 9 o 29 

David J. Tuttle 12 i 2714 

Joseph Johnson 19 i 24 J/^ 

Samuel Tnttle 2 o o 

Jonathan Tuttle 6 2 26-)4 

Ira Tnttle 7 o 

Jesse Dickerman 13 2 21 1/2 

Heirs of Jabez Tuttle i o 8 

Merrit Tuttle 4 2 i 

Jesse Dickerman & Abel Woolcut 6 i 15I/2 

Levi Dickerman 26 3 6 

Jotham Tuttle 46 3 39^ 

Ebenezer B. Mnnson 24 o 4^ 

Miles Dickerman 4 2 30 

Poll}' Dickerman 5 3 30 

Allen Dickerman 18 i 18 



io6 Colonial History 

Acres. Qrs. Rods. 

]\Ian!y Dickerman zg i 29^^ 

Hezekiali Brocket 2 2 3 

Ambrose and Leveritt Tuttle 6 2 11 

Russel Pierpont 12 2 9^4 

Ambrose Tuttle 3 o 8^ 

Leveritt Tnttle 3 o 8j4 

Job L. ]\lunson 13 3 2% 

Heirs of Cap't John Miles Weaver 6 o 3 

Heirs of Samuel Gilbert 2 3 o 

Eber Ives 8 i 8 

Eli Tuttle 8 2 0I/2 

Cliauncey Dickermau 40 o 3iM 

839 o 20 14 
Received to Record ^Farch 17. 1812 and Recorded by 

RUSSEL PIERPONT, Clerk." 

The above is the immlier of acres owned bv each one. 



Tin-: Parish of Mount Carmel. 107 



Weathek Record. 

AMONG a number of ancient books in the possession of Mrs. Cornelia 
Dudley is a printed volume of 84 pages, being a minute record of the 
weather for each day covering a period of twenty-five years from 
April I. 1785, to March 31, i8ii, inclusive. We give here some extracts from 
the work, and also the last page entire, which is a record of the hottest and 
coldest days during the time specified : 

PREFACE. 

The following- account of the weather has been taken with care at the time the 
several events happened, and from personal observation. 

And as I have taken great pains a quarter of a century last past, to take down an 
account of such things, with some other events, 1 hope it will be agreeable to any who 
are willing to take notice of it. 

I suppose that long storms extend many miles; but showers and gusts of wind 
often reach l)ut a little space; and how this account will agree with the state of the 
weather at a distance, in other towns and states, perhaps may be worth thinking of by 
those who have kept an account similar to this. 

The several small journeys, and days that I was from home between the years 
1790 and 1798, I kept the account of the weather where 1 travelled; and as many of 
those towns, and the time I was in them are named, those who have kept such an 
account of the weather in said towns, will see this agrees with theirs. 

This account of the weather, &c. was observed and kept within the distance of 
from three to five miles of New Haven, in Connecticut, except about one-eleventh part 
of said 25 years. J. A. 

Hamden. April 2, i(Sio. 

RECOMMENDATION. 
THE Subscribers having examined the account of the weather kept by MR. 
JEREMIAH ALLING, and compared it in many instances with accounts of the 
weather which we have kept, during a considerable part of the same period, and 
having in all the instances which we have so compared, found his account to agree 
with ours, do without hesitation express our belief that the whole of it is correct, and 
entitled to the confidence of the |)ublic. 

ISAAC BEERS, 
JEREMIAH DAY. 
HEZEKIAH HOWE. 
New Haven, July 3. t8io. 



io8 



Colonial History 



APRIL. 17S5. 

1 Some snow; some sunshine. 

2 Clear morn.: cloudy- A.; hail in night 

3 Chiefly cloud}-; cold. 

4 Chiefly cloudy' ; some squalls rain. 

5 Chiefl}- clear; -warm. 

6 Clear and warm. 

7 Clear and cloudv at turns. 



A REGISTER 

of the 
WEATHER. 

MAY. 1785. 

1 Chiefly cloudy; very cool. 

2 Clear; N. wind. 
.3 Cloudv: hazv. 



II Hazy: rainy night 
blow. 

^ ^ ^ 

19 Cloudy. 



-peach trees begin to 



Apple trees begin to blow. 

And so on. for twenty-five years, with the regularity of the weather itself. 
The last page of the book reads as follows : 

Here followeth an account of the degrees of heat and cold; some of the coldest, 
and some of the hotest days, most of the years of this Register, taken from ]\Ir. I. 
Beers' Register of the weather, near the College, in New Haven. 



SOAIE HOTEST DAYS. 

1786 July 19 96 

Aug. 22 94 

1788 July 3 and 8 92 

Aug. 5 93 

1788 June 6 90 

July 12 94 

Aug. 4 92 

1789 Jul\- 20 & 21 90 

July 3 & 9 94 

Aug. 7 to 13 93 to 98 

1790 July 22 & 23 93 

Aug. 6 & 15 95 

1791 Juh- 12 91 

Aug. 26 91 

1796 July 8 91 

Aug. I 89 

1797 JnH" 20 90 

21 94 

1798 July 3 lOl 

28 97 

1799 June 24 93 

July 13 94 

31 91 

1800 June II 92 

July 7 100 

Aug. 27 94 

Aug. 20 95 



SOME COLDEST DAYS. 

1786 Jan. 18 & 19 2 deg. below 

1787 Jan. 19 within 8 of o 

1788 Jan. 14 within 4 of o 

Feb. 5 &6 down to o 

1789 Feb. I within 9 of o 

2 down to 2 below o 

26 within 4 of o 

1790 Feb. 10 4 of 

13 6 of o 

Dec. 9 5 of 

1791 Jan. 29 10 of o 

Feb. 3 10 of o 

• 17 8 of o 

1796 Jan. 30 below o 

Dec. 23 & 24 below o 

1797 Jan. 8&9 below o 

Dec. 25 within 2 of o 

1798 Feb. 8 & 9 I of o 

Dec. 2S 8 of o 

1799 Feb. 6, 10 & 26 3 of o 

^Nlarch 5 to o 

1800 Jan. 29 to o 

Feb. 13 within 7 of o 

1801 Jan. 3 I of o 

Feb. 13 I of o 

16 to o 

1802 Feb. 6 within 9 of o 

2,-!, to o 



The Parish of Mount Carmel. 



109 



SOME HOTTEST DAYS— Confimicd. 

1801 From June 23 to July 3. from 90 to 

1802 July 23 

Aug. 23 & 24 

Sept. 16 

1903 June 25 

July 26 

Aug. 3 &4 

1804 July 8 & 10 

30 

Aug. ig & 20 

1805 June 20 

July 4, 5 & 6 9-' to 

13 

Aug. 10 

Sept. 12 

1806 June 24 

July 26 

1807 June 9 

July 16 & 19 

Aug. I" 

1808 June 6 

7 

J"ly I 

Aug. 4 

1809 June 25 

28 



1810 



July 10 . 
June 20 
23 . 



97 
94 
91 
90 
96 
S9 
91 
92 
90 
92 
100 

95 
100 

93 
91 
90 
90 
92 
90 
90 
92 
95 
..96 
92 
90 

95 
90 

93 
90 



SOME COLDEST DAYS— Coiitiititcd. 
1803 Jan. 20 within 9 ^.t" o 



29 



4 ot o 
2 of o 



1804 Jan. 22 

Dec. 14 9 of o 

Jan. 4 ^^^°''; ° 

i^ within 8 of o 

Feb. 4 6 "'*' ° 

Jan. 15 - '^^ ° 

18 to o 

]3ec 31 witihn 9 of o 



180S 



1806 



1807 



1808 



1809 



Jan. I 4 0t o 

14 3 of o 

19 3 of o 

2- 4 of o 

Feb. 7 5 of o 

Jan. 4 & 5 within 4 of 

16 to o 

Yeh. 26 within 10 of 

Jan. 9 10 of o 

13 t° ° 

Feb. I 9 of o 

; 8 of o 

5 below o 

2 of o 

8 .of o 

[810 Jan. 19 & 20 I of o 

20 & 22 to o 

29 & 30 to o 

Feb. 10 3 of o 

181 1 Jan. 18 within 10 of o 

23 10 of 

Feb. 20 2 of o 

,, 6 of o 



9 • 
10 

17 



In winter from 20 to 38: in summer 



from 60 to 78. 




PkifTe^aeked by his daaghu-r. XHE \UTHOr 



i^^'AV 31 1907 



